Long Island native Chris Wade defeated Howell’s Frankie Perez by unanimous decision at UFC on Fox 25 from the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, on July 22.
The judges scored the lightweight division fight 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27, all in favor of Wade, after three five-minute rounds in the event’s opening bout.
This was the second time these two fighters have met. Wade spoke about their rivalry during the post-fight press conference.
“Just to be clear about it, leading up to the first fight, I have never had anything but respect for Frankie, his family and the camp he comes from,” Wade said, calling Perez “tops on the east coast in my weight class.”
Wade called the first fight with Perez a “respect fight,” admitting he wanted “to fight the best” at the time.
“Since then, I have seen him and his family many times; it has been nothing but respect,” the Long Island fighter said.
Things changed heading into their rematch over the weekend, however, with Wade taking exception to Perez’s words ahead of their fight, saying Perez had “been basically wishing me the worst.”
Wade called Perez’s trash talk leading up to their rematch a slap in the face and said it was the extra push he needed to show Perez what he is capable of.
“[It] does not matter what day it is, he can not beat me,” Wade said.
“I think he gave me a little bit of extra incentive. He gave me that little extra edge I needed.”
The story of the fight was control. Wade controlled Perez for over eight minutes of the total fight — 8:01 compared to Perez’s 2:17.
Wade attempted eight takedowns, shooting successfully on three of them. Wade landed 65 percent of his strikes, connecting on 51 out of 79.
Perez landed two more strikes than Wade, but it took 20 more attempts, landing 53 out of 99. The Howell fighter successfully took down his Long Island rival three out of five times but could not capitalize on the mat.
Perez now stands with a record of 10-4 (1-3 in the UFC). Wade is now 5-2 in the UFC and 12-3 overall.