MMA Fighter of the Week: Nathaniel “The Prospect” Wood

MMA Fighter of the Week: Nathaniel “The Prospect” Wood

By Kieran Cobley

This week’s Fighter of the Week honours go to Nathaniel Wood (16-3) after his awesome display at UFC London. Wood realised a dream of his as he stepped into the cage, to fight in the UFC in his hometown of London.

“The Prospect” took on Mexican bantamweight Jose Quinonez (7-3) on the main card, and dominated the fight from start to finish.

Wood started the fight the more aggressive, constantly moving forward and throwing the occasional leg kick, followed up with a combination of punches that would catch Quinonez, but not really affect him. The only time Quinonez looked to be in control in the first round was when he had Wood pinned to the cage for a moment or two, and getting a quick takedown, but never really looked to threaten Wood.

This didn’t do much to change the score in the first round, and Wood was able to get back to his feet and control the rest of the round with ease, and at one point looked to have locked a D’arce choke in, but Quinonez wriggled out. Wood finished the round with a takedown of his own to put his stamp on the round and make sure he won it in the eyes of the judges.

For the second round, Quinonez came out quickly and threw a leg kick, but Wood checked it and countered with a heavy overhand right that wobbled his opponent. Quinonez managed to regain his composure though and get Wood in his clinch and put him on the fence.

Brad Pickett’s protégé didn’t intend on staying there long though, and pushed “Teco” off before going on the offensive once again. As Quinonez looked to get cage control once again, Wood performed a picture perfect outside trip, taking the Mexican to the ground once more. As Quinonez looked to swivel out and get to his feet, he gave up his back, and Wood was quick to seize the opportunity, climbing up Quinonez’s back, locking in a body triangle, throwing a hook around the neck and syncing in the Rear Naked Choke.

Quinonez soon realised he wasn’t going to escape, and tapped out, giving Wood a dream win in front of his home town at the O2 via second round submission.

Wood has now caught the attention of the bantamweight division, and I expect his next fight will see him get into the top 15 if he was to win. Potential opponents for Wood’s next fight could be Alejandro Perez or Thomas Almeida with the pair ranked 13 and 14 respectively and both coming off losses in their last fights.

Honourable mentions this week go to “Meatball” Molly McCann, who showed true warrior spirit as she defeated Priscila Cachoeira via decision, fighting the third round looking like “The Elephant Women” (her own words) after suffering a broken orbital bone.

Leon Edwards also gets a nod after his decision win over Gunnar Nelson catapulted him into the welterweight title picture, and as well to Jorge Masvidal, who knocked out Darren Till in the second round of the main event, before deciding he had enough energy in him still to engage with Leon Edwards backstage later that evening.