Nathaniel Wood is back in action on September 5 in Paris, France. The Englishman puts his four-fight winning streak on the line against The Ultimate Fighter season 32 winner Mairon Santos. Both fighters will meet in the featherweight division.
Multiple sources have confirmed the booking to Heavy.com. While both Wood and Santos remain unranked in the official UFC media rankings, Wood holds the number nine spot in the UFC Meta rankings. The fight takes place in the Accor Arena.
Dark Horse At Featherweight
Nathaniel Wood is one of the dark horses in the UFC featherweight division. The 32-year-old Brit has been in the UFC since 2018. He came over from Cage Warriors as the bantamweight champion. Wood impressed in his first three UFC fights, finishing all three opponents. In 2020, Wood had the worst year of his career with two losses in three fights. He decided to move up to the featherweight division.
Wood racked up three wins against Charles Rosa, Charles Jourdain, and Andre Fili. The Brit could almost smell the top 15 but lost a controversial unanimous decision against Muhammad Naimov, which put him back in line. Wood bounced back with a win over Daniel Pineda in London and also beat Morgan Charrière, Jose Miguel Delgado, and Losene Keita, all by decision. With a four-fight winning streak, he now takes on Mairon Santos.
Young And Very Talented
Santos started his professional MMA career in 2019 and put together a record of twelve wins and no losses in three years. In 2022, he signed with the LFA promotion but lost his first fight against Dan Argueta. Santos bounced back with a win over Rafael Barbosa and entered the tryouts for the 32nd season of The Ultimate Fighter. He won both his quarterfinal and semifinal and got the opportunity to fight for a UFC contract in the finale against Kaan Ofli. Santos impressed with a violent knockout in the second round, crowning himself The Ultimate Fighter 32.
At the beginning of last year, Santos struggled heavily in the fight against Francis Marshall. The Brazilian edged out a controversial split decision. The Brazilian fighter then decided to accept a fight at lightweight against Sodiq Yusuff. Santos fought a solid fight and beat Yusuff after three rounds by unanimous decision. In his most recent fight at the end of last year, Santos went back down to featherweight. Despite missing weight, the Brazilian fighter impressed with a TKO win early in the third round against Muhammad Naimov. He now takes on Nathaniel Wood and hopes to stay undefeated in the UFC.
UFC Paris – September 5 (Accor Arena)
- Michael Page vs. Nursulton Ruziboev
- Mario Pinto vs. Ryan Spann
- Nora Cornolle vs. Klaudia Sygula
- Nathaniel Wood vs. Mairon Santos
- Oumar Sy vs. Modestas Bukauskas
- Luis Felipe Dias vs. Matthieu Letho Duclos
- Kurtis Campbell vs. Trevor Peek
- Losene Keita vs. Muhammad Naimov
- Fabia Sintes vs. Michael Aljarouj
Fan Favorite Takes on TUF Winner at UFC Paris