Gutless gents put out with ladies' controlled descent (8)
I believe the answer is:
glissade
'controlled descent' is the definition.
'gutless gents put out with ladies'' is the wordplay.
'gutless' suggests removing the centre.
'put out with' indicates anagramming the letters.
'gents' with its middle taken out is 'gs'.
'gs' anagrammed with 'ladies' makes 'GLISSADE'.
(Other definitions for glissade that I've seen before include "movement in ballet" , "Ballet step" , "Ballet slide" .)