LI's Chris Wade almost walked away from MMA. Now he's back in the PFL and ready to fight.

For nearly three weeks in his hotel room in Atlantic City paid for by someone else, Chris Wade enjoys a beautiful view of the beach and the Atlantic Ocean. Not too shabby for the 33-year-old mixed martial artist from Islip.

But this is bubble life for Wade, where such accoutrements offer little else beyond a view as he spends his time in the confines of the Ocean Resort Casino sharpening his skills and cutting weight for his first match in PFL Season 3 on Friday.

"I swear to you, I haven’t been outside since April 6," Wade said recently.

If the back end of the pandemic seems a bit brighter for Wade, that’s because it is. The coronavirus put sports on pause in March 2020, and a month later the PFL rescheduled its season for 2021. That left Wade with no one to fight. When gyms in New York were ordered closed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, that left Wade with no one to train or teach at Long Island MMA. Wade, like millions of Americans, was unemployed.

We tend not to think of MMA fighters in such terms since most typically only fight two or three times each year. But with no fights came no fight purses for Wade. And with no private lessons or classes to lead came no additional income for several months.

"I'm eating away at money that I thought was going to be in there and growing for the rest of my career," said Wade, who has a 7-year-old daughter named Haleigh. "It was a blessing that I had it, but I basically ate away at the majority of it paying my bills and staying afloat."

Uncertainty about the re-opening of gyms and when his next fight would be – or could be – Wade (17-6, 5-3 PFL) considered putting his fighting gear in the closet in exchange for a regular job with steady income, benefits and a longer earning window than MMA.

"There was a lot of soul searching to be done," Wade said. "I almost gave up on the sport a couple times. I had some pressure from people in my life to go in another direction. And I was really close to just doing it. There were some nights where I laid there and just said, 'What the hell am I doing?'"

Ultimately, though, it came down to how he answered a different question.

"I had to ask myself, will I be constantly living with regret if I walk away from this?" Wade said. "And for me, the answer was, yes."

Wade said he heard from the PFL in February about returning for Season 3. He credited Ray Sefo, PFL president of fighting operations, with championing Wade’s return. There was some back and forth about whether it would be at lightweight, where he competed his entire career, or dropping down 10 pounds to featherweight.

Wade eventually landed in the featherweight division, a weight class ruled thus far by two-time defending champion Lance Palmer (22-3, 10-0). First up for Wade is Frenchman Anthony Dizy (13-3) on Friday night.

Each fighter gets two regular-season matches where they earn points based on the result. A win is three points, but bonus points for stoppages by round (three points for Round 1, two points for Round 2, one point for Round 3). The top four fighters advance to the playoffs, down from eight in previous seasons. Also gone are the two fights in one night in the playoffs.

"I've been in a bubble. I haven't been able to see my daughter, I’m with people who don't, you know, didn't necessarily believe in me," Wade said. "And unfortunately, like this dude, he might be a nice guy. But he's got to pay for all this because he's the only one I can take it out on right now."

By Mark La Monica

mark.lamonica@newsday.comLaMonicaMark

Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.