Nathaniel Wood was hoping to finally get a finish. Instead, he had to rally just to get a win in Abu Dhabi.
Nathaniel Wood met the media Saturday after his win over Jose Delgado at UFC 321.
Wood (22-6 MMA, 10-3 UFC) was dropped by Delgado (10-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) in the first round and was in plenty of trouble. But he rallied in the second and third on the prelims at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi to take a unanimous decision.
All three judges gave Wood the second and third rounds for the trio of 29-28 scorecards. But among the analysts and pundits tracked by MMA Decisions, all but two scored the fight for Delgado – and several scored the fight for him 30-27.
Wood showed plenty of signs of wear after the fight, which he went into saying he was looking to get back to finishing opponents. He hasn’t had a stoppage win in 6.5 years. He’s gone the distance in nine straight fights and is 7-2 in those bouts.
“I’ve been better. I did take a few too many shots. He did hurt me in that first round – I won’t lie,” Wood told the UFC after the fight. “The kid hits hard, and I don’t know what he caught me with. It’s the ones you don’t see that hurt, and I didn’t see it coming. But I got the win; that’s the main thing.
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going. I’ve got the battle scars. I’ve been there before. I was thinking in the first, ‘Here we go again. You’ve got to bite down on that gum shield and go for it.’ But I’ve got that dog in me. I can do it. At the end of the day, it’s that fight or flight, and I’ve got that fight in me.”
Wood said he’s interested in a fight against former Bellator two-division champion Patricio Freire (37-8 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who came to the UFC earlier this year after getting out of his PFL deal in the wake of the Bellator shuttering.
Freire dropped his promotional debut to Yair Rodriguez in April, but bounced back to upset Dan Ige in July at UFC 318. He was set to take on Losene Keita in early September in Paris, but Keita missed weight and the fight was scrapped, which kept the 38-year-old “Pitbull” on the shelf.
“I feel like I deserve someone in the top 15 – somebody like Patricio ‘Pitbull,’ London in March,” Wood said. “That would be one hell of a fight in my home town. I think I’ve earned it, and I think that would be one hell of a fight.”
Check out Wood’s post-fight interview in the video below.
