When the UFC returned to London in March, after three years away, British fans and fighters combined to produce one of the most memorable Fight Nights in the history of the sport. The Britons thrived in the Octagon that night, while their compatriots punctuated every enthralling moment with incomparable verve. There was one thing missing, however: a hometown fighter to become a hometown hero.
It could have been Nathaniel Wood. But three days out from UFC London, the 29-year-old’s opponent Vince Morales withdrew from the pair’s bout, as Wood’s long wait for a return to the ring continued.
Wood, a former Cage Warriors champion, had not stepped foot in the Octagon since a close decision defeat in October 2020, with injuries and the Covid pandemic providing barriers between the bantamweight and the ability to compete.
“Ah, mate, it was just… It was a feeling where I thought: Why am I doing this? Should I just become a postman, and go and get a [normal] job?” Wood tells The Independent, reflecting on the collapsed fight in March.
“It was just constant knockbacks. The feeling sucked honestly, and I thought to myself: I’m not getting paid and I’m broke – I’m basically in the minus now.’ Luckily that wasn’t the case; I saw [UFC president] Dana White and he said: ‘Don’t worry, you’ll still be getting paid, you didn’t pull out.’ So that was obviously nice to find that out, but it was a horrible feeling [in general]. All the hard work that I’d put in, all the dieting, all the training… I just felt like, at the time, it had all been washed down the toilet.”
The clash with Morales had been set to mark Wood’s featherweight debut in the UFC, but that would have to wait until July, when the promotion swiftly returned to the English capital and Wood finally got his chance to compete at the O2 Arena again.
Wood outpointed Charles Rosa over three rounds with a dominant display of striking, at last able to scratch the incessant itch to fight once again and get back to winning ways.
“There was loads of pressure,” he admits. “Obviously this was my comeback fight, coming off a loss technically even though I felt I won that fight, in my hometown, going up a weight division… there was a lot riding on it, a lot of pressure; but pressure makes diamonds.
“That was probably one of the only fights where I’ve really been in the moment, if that makes sense. The adrenalin didn’t take over too much, I was in the zone; it was kind of like a Matrix flow state. I was enjoying every second of that fight, and I could’ve gone another 10 rounds. So, it would’ve been nice to get the finish, but I was having a good time, so why would I want to rush getting out?”
The experience also convinced Wood to keep delivering punches rather than parcels.
“The win in July just made me think: ‘This is what it’s all about. It’s worth it,’” he says. “To have everything taken away from me for two years, this was was kind of like: ‘We’re back, this was worthwhile, everything we’ve gone through was for this moment.’ Being on top of that Octagon in front of my hometown, that was a special moment; probably one of the best moments of my life.”
Although Wood missed out on what went down as a momentous event at the O2 Arena in March, he is now set to feature on an even more historic card this Saturday, as the UFC visits France for the first time ever.
Just two years after MMA was legalised in the country, a UFC Paris event will take place at the Accor Arena in the French capital.
“There’s a lot of excitement over here at the moment,” Wood observes ahead of his fight with Canada’s Charles “Air” Jourdain. “Obviously it’s a historic event, so there’s gonna be a lot of eyes on this show, so that’s perfect for me. Nothing beats that hometown English crowd, but I can only imagine that it’s gonna be electric in that arena on Saturday night.”
Wood’s trip to Paris for this weekend’s event is in fact his first.
“I’d never been until now. Today I got to go and see the Eiffel Tower, it was all quite cool. To be honest, Paris is kind of similar to London. It’s quite busy, there’s a lot of shops. I do want to go out and do some shopping, but I might wait until Sunday and see if I get that £50,000 bonus, then I’ll be hitting up Louis Vuitton.”
To earn that shopping spree, and a place on a rumoured Wembley Stadium card in London next year, Wood (18-5) might have to overcome Jourdain (13-5-1), who is coming off a loss to Shane Burgos two months ago.
“He’s a very dangerous fighter, a very exciting fighter, but he leaves himself very open,” Wood says. “I think his striking’s quite reckless, so it’s kind of a risky style for him.
“But I’m excited; he comes to bang, I come to bang, so that’s potentially got fight of the night written all over it. It’s a pleasure to share the Octagon with him.”
