With less than five days to go until UFC Paris, Nathaniel Wood finally has a new opponent to take on in the Accor Arena this Saturday. In the featherweight division, the English fighter fights promotional newcomer Pavel Andrusca. The Moldovan fighter comes over from the UAE Warriors.
Multiple sources have confirmed the booking to Heavy.com. Wood originally was supposed to take on TUF 32 winner Mairon Santos, but the Brazilian pulled out of the fight last week. Andrusca gets a big opportunity to take on Wood, who is ranked No. 8 in the UFC Meta rankings.
Ninth Year In The UFC
Nathaniel Wood signed with the UFC as the Cage Warriors bantamweight champion in 2018. As a 24-year-old talent, he fought his first couple of fights in the UFC at bantamweight. Wood had an amazing start with three submission finishes in his first three outings, but struggled in his next three fights. He lost by knockout against former title challenger John Dodson and dropped a decision against Casey Kenney. The English fighter decided it would be better to go up in weight and proceed in the featherweight division. Wood became less of a finisher at featherweight, but his fights were always entertaining to watch.
After winning three fights in a row, he dropped a controversial unanimous decision loss to Muhammad Naimov. It was an unexpected setback for the fighter from England. Wood was able to bounce back and win four consecutive fights, beating Jose Miguel Delgado and Losene Keita via very close decision. With a four-fight winning streak, Wood was hoping to fight someone in the top 15 of the division but got matched up with Mairon Santos. Santos pulled out of the fight, and now Wood takes on undefeated newcomer Pavel Andrusca. A high-risk, low-reward kind of fight for Wood. But he knows he has to win if he wants to climb the rankings next.
An Unexpected Opportunity
For Andrusca, the fight against Wood is an unexpected but very welcome opportunity. The 24-year-old Moldovan fighter started his professional career in 2021. After winning his first two professional fights in his debut year, he didn’t fight in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, he returned with a win over Balabek Abbas. After that win, he signed with the Austrian promotion Vendetta Fight Nights (VFN). In his first fight for VFN, he immediately got the opportunity to fight for the title against Ahmet Şimşek. Andrusca won via TKO in the first round, winning his first professional MMA title.
In 2025, he defended the title twice and signed with the UAE Warriors. During his debut for the organization, he knocked out Road to UFC runner-up Daermisi Zhawupasi in the first round. In his most recent fight earlier this year, he also won by knockout in the first round. This time, he took on Gexipengchu. With an 8-0 record and seven finishes in total, he is now set for his UFC debut against Nathaniel Wood. A win against Wood would skyrocket the newcomer into the featherweight Meta rankings.
UFC Paris – September 5th
Main Card (3 pm ET)
- Dan Hooker vs. Salahdine Parnasse
- Farès Ziam vs. Axel Sola
- Michael Page vs. Nursulton Ruziboev
- Daniil Donchenko vs. Punahele Soriano
- Morgan Charrière vs. Felipe Lima
- Losene Keita vs. Muhammad Naimov
Preliminary Card (12 pm ET)
- Mario Pinto vs. Ryan Spann
- Kurtis Campbell vs. Trevor Peek
- Oumar Sy vs. Modestas Bukauskas
- Nathaniel Wood vs. Pavel Andrusca
- Michael Aljarouj vs. Fabia Sintes
- Nora Cornolle vs. Klaudia Syguła
- Matthieu Duclos vs. Luis Felipe Dias
- Delphine Benouaich vs. Sofia Montenegro
Nathaniel Wood Draws Undefeated Newcomer at UFC Paris