Nathaniel Wood believes UK fighters are being overshadowed by Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann. After a two-year layoff, Wood made a triumphant return to the Octagon last Saturday — dominating Charles Rosa at UFC London. Despite his performance, the tal…
Nathaniel Wood believes UK fighters are being overshadowed by Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann. After a two-year layoff, Wood made a triumphant return to the Octagon last Saturday — dominating Charles Rosa at UFC London. Despite his performance, the talk was once again all around Liverpudlians Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann. The pair have recently…
Nathaniel Wood returned from a nearly two-year absence at UFC London and put on a dominant display against Charles Rosa. Fighting in front of his hometown crowd, Wood got to work with leg kicks early and quickly compromised Rosa’s lead leg. “Bost…
Nathaniel Wood returned from a nearly two-year absence at UFC London and put on a dominant display against Charles Rosa. Fighting in front of his hometown crowd, Wood got to work with leg kicks early and quickly compromised Rosa’s lead leg. “Boston Strong” briefly threatened a submission at the end of the first round, but…
Former Cage Warriors bantamweight champion, Nathaniel Wood, is looking to make an emphatic performance in his long-awaited return to competition when he takes on Charles Rosa this weekend. Fans of the UFC have not seen the 28-year-old fight since October of 2020. A slew of opponent pullouts and injuries have limited the Englishman’s ability to […]
Former Cage Warriors bantamweight champion, Nathaniel Wood, is looking to make an emphatic performance in his long-awaited return to competition when he takes on Charles Rosa this weekend.
Fans of the UFC have not seen the 28-year-old fight since October of 2020. A slew of opponent pullouts and injuries have limited the Englishman’s ability to advance his career in any meaningful way. However, this weekend, after nearly two years out, Nathaniel Wood will take on eight-year UFC veteran, Charles Rosa.
Talking to LowKickMMA.com, Wood expressed respect for Rosa, but his eagerness to return to the octagon was obvious.
“Obviously, he’s game,” Wood began. “He’s very very game, he’s been in the UFC for many years and he’s obviously very high level. To be in the UFC you have to be high level, to be there that many years you’ve got to be even better.”
“Do I see anything that’s gonna bother be? No. You know, he’s been in the UFC for so long now, I don’t feel he’s really done much with it. It’s win lose, win lose, win lose, he’s just sorta bouncing about.”
‘The Prospect’ also notes that considering Rosa’s reputation and fighting style, he could see a bonus being thrown his way from UFC president, Dana White.
“I’m excited for the fight, excited for a game opponent, he doesn’t come and put on a boring show, so I’d like to think there’s a nice 50gs in it for us. It would be a pleasure to share it with him, there’s no animosity my end, but I will be looking to take his head off, on Saturday night.”
Nathaniel Wood Signs New Contract, Switches Weight Classes
Earlier this year, Wood would announce that he had signed a brand new, four-fight deal with the UFC, the Rosa fight will be the first of which.
Wood also announced at this time that he would be moving up weight classes to featherweight. Although the past two years have been tough for Woods, it seems that we will be treated with more action from the promising Englishman.
“Training’s been amazing. Obviously going up in a weight category has been a weight off my shoulders. It’s meant that this camp I’ve actually been able to focus on my opponent as opposed to purely cutting weight.”
How do you see Nathaniel Wood vs. Charles Rosa playing out?
Nathaniel Wood was due to square off against Jonathan Martinez on September 4. Unfortunately, a hand injury forced the UFC bantamweight prospect of the bout, and he’s now in a race to get fighting fit before the end of 2021. The 28-year-old broke his right metacarpal in training and now faces a six to eight […]
Nathaniel Wood was due to square off against Jonathan Martinez on September 4.
Unfortunately, a hand injury forced the UFC bantamweight prospect of the bout, and he’s now in a race to get fighting fit before the end of 2021.
The 28-year-old broke his right metacarpal in training and now faces a six to eight week recovery period before he can get back to training.
“Fortunately, he (the doctor) said six to eight weeks, which, you know, I’m happy with that because I fought straight away, ‘ahh that might be six months,” Wood told LowKickMMA. “The doctor turned around and said, ‘you’ve broken it, but you’ve kind of broken it as best as you could, we don’t need to do pin it. We don’t need to operate on it. It’s just a case of leaving it now, let it rest.’ He said six weeks at least, but he said maybe a little bit longer. So, you know, in my head, I’m thinking if it’s six weeks, eight weeks fight camp, you know, hopefully 14 weeks (I’ll) be back in there. I’d like to make sure that I’m there for November, December and get one in before the end of the year.”
Wood is just thankful that the UFC’s proposed return to London has been scrapped and he still has the chance to compete in his hometown the next time promotion makes the trip.
“As far as I was aware, we was just getting ready for London,” Wood said. “I think a week before I broke my hand, they said, ‘okay, it’s now been moved to Vegas.’ I can only imagine that, you know, COVID got in the way of things again.”
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t London, but if anything, I’m kind of glad now, because now that I’ve broken my hand, if it was London, I would have been absolutely devastated,” Wood added. “If anything, I think I would have just had to lie about my hand and go in there with one hand. For me, that would’ve meant everything to be in London. So, the fact that it’s been moved anyway, you know, that’s great. Hopefully that means they’ll get it back on soon and I’d like to think that they’ll put me on there.”
Who do you want to see Nathaniel Wood fight once he is fully fit?
Earlier tonight (Saturday, October, 24th. 2020) UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje took place from the Flash Forum on ‘Fight Island’ on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE. UFC president, Dana White announced the following bonuses at tonight’s post-fight press conference. Taking main event honours, Khabib ‘The Eagle’ Nurmagomedov successfully unified the lightweight crown opposite interim […]
Earlier tonight (Saturday, October, 24th. 2020) UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje took place from the Flash Forum on ‘Fight Island’ on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE. UFC president, Dana White announced the following bonuses at tonight’s post-fight press conference.
Taking main event honours, Khabib ‘The Eagle’ Nurmagomedov successfully unified the lightweight crown opposite interim titleholder, Justin ‘The Highlight’ Gaethje – before announcing his stunning retirement from professional mixed martial arts at an undeniable 29-0.
Finding himself on the wrong end of a number of worrying leg kicks early in the opening round, Khabib forced Gaethje to fight off the fence and never allowed him get comfortable, with massive pressure and pace. With a visibly fatigued Gaethje returning to his stool, Khabib managed to take the Arizona native’s back in the second-round in a scramble near the Octagon fence. Assuming full-mount, Khabib then dropped to his back, locking up a taut triangle – with Gaethje ultimately falling unconscious after a series of taps.
An emotional Khabib gathered his thoughts in the centre of the Octagon afterwards, before calling time on his illustrious career, after a promise he had made to his mother following the passing of his father, Abdulmanap. The victory proved enough for Khabib to score a Performance of The Night bonus.
Opening up our main card portion of the event, an intriguing light heavyweight rematch between rivals, Magomed Ankalaev and Ion Cutelaba. Following a controversial stoppage in March of this year – the pair looked to finally settle the score in a heated rivalry.
Bantamweight prospect Nathaniel Wood has been chasing a fight with Marlon Vera since joining the UFC last year. Vera was the last man to defeat Brad Pickett – who coaches 25-year-old Wood. Many believe the pair will square off on 21 March 2020 at UFC London but “the prospect” isn’t so sure. Speaking on the […]
Bantamweight prospect Nathaniel Wood has been chasing a fight with Marlon Vera since joining the UFC last year. Vera was the last man to defeat Brad Pickett – who coaches 25-year-old Wood.
Many believe the pair will square off on 21 March 2020 at UFC London but “the prospect” isn’t so sure. Speaking on the MMA Fighting Eurobash Podcast he expressed doubts about the fight. (H/T MMA Fighting)
“I’d like to think it’s going to happen, but I don’t think that he wants to fight. He said, ‘I’ve got the pen ready and all of that’, but he said that a year and a half ago and nothing’s happened from it.
“He said to me once on Twitter about fighting me, I had set a date and he said, ‘No, you do nothing for me,’ and that kind of stuff. I just said, ‘Fine, whatever,’ and then he went and fought a guy that I had just beat, a guy that I beat last year, he’s only just gone and fought him. That just leaves me in confusion – do you want to step up or not?
Former Cage Warriors Champion Wood is beginning to look elsewhere for opponents and Cody Garbrandt is top of his wish list.
“If he doesn’t want to fight, me versus Cody – I’d love to have that fight. That excites me. He’s obviously ranked a lot higher than me at the moment, but then, he’s on a three-loss streak and I’m on a three-fight win streak. To me, for the UFC, it’s win/win. If he beats me, cool he’s back in the win column. If he doesn’t beat me, as far as I’m concerned, the UFC has a new title contender.”
Do you think Nathaniel Wood is ready to take on ex-champ Cody Gardbrandt?