Flying knees appear to be the recent weapon of choice for combat wrestlers.
Andre Harrison’s opponent Thursday at PFL 5, Movlid Khaibulaev, is coming off a 10-second knockout of Damon Jackson at PFL Week 2, a spectacular, highlight-reel finish.
A couple months later at UFC 239, Jorge Masvidal scored a record-breaking flying knee knockout over Ben Askren in just five seconds, and it seems like everybody is talking about the flying knee as a perfect counter strike for when a wrestler decides to shoot.
Harrison (21-1 MMA, 5-1 PFL) however, is not too worried about that as he believes you can’t just worry about any one strike. He says it’ll open up everything else.
“If you look at how many fights Masvidal has and how many people he’s finished within the first 10 seconds with a flying knee, I think Ben’s the first person that’s happened to,” Harrison told MMA Junkie Radio. “Same thing with my opponent, Khaibulaev. I’m sure he’s landed flying knees before in fights, landed knees period, but that’s not a high percentage, where in the first 10 seconds of the fight you throw a flying knee and it’s like, it’s the biggest thing ever.”
“He’s definitely a talented striker, and he’s good at those knees,” Harrison added. “He threw them in previous fights and things like that, but a punch is a punch, a kick is a kick, a knee is a knee. You can’t worry about one particular strike because in the process of you worrying about that, you’re going to get hit with everything else.”
Harrison is coming off his first career loss, to eventual winner Lance Palmer at PFL 8, eliminating him from the featherweight tournament last season. When asked if the pressure is off, now that he’s no longer undefeated, Harrison said he’s just worried about performing to the best of his abilities.
“Me, I kind of focus more on performances,” Harrison said. “And have the best performances I could possibly have so I look at it more that way and try not focus on record so much.”
And he will take on undefeated Khaibulaev (13-0 MMA, 1-0 PFL), who stole all the headlines with his flying-knee knockout over Jackson. Harrison is just focused on executing his game plan.
“I just got to be on my A-game and to execute what I want to do out there,” Harrison said. “And should that happen, I believe I’ll have a good night.”
The tumultuous nature of the tournament format has posed new challenges for all the fighters. This season, there’s a little more time to rest in between fights but Harrison would prefer if they had a couple more weeks.
“I think it would be awesome if they gave us just a little bit more time,” Harrison said. “This year with the nine weeks, it’s definitely a little bit better but if they gave us a couple extra weeks, it would definitely be a lot better. Maybe that way we can take the first maybe two, three weeks and heal and then get to legit have a solid seven to get ready for a fight.”
For more on PFL 2019, Week 5, check out the MMA Schedule.
MMA Junkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Dan Tom. For more information or to download past episodes, go to http://www.mmajunkie.com/radio. You can also check out http://www.siriusxm.com/siriusxmfightnation.
