Nathaniel Wood gets his wish, set to face Jose Quinonez at UFC Fight Night 147
After an undefeated 2018, Nathaniel Wood will return to his hometown and face Jose Quinonez at UFC Fight Night 147 in London.
Wood made his UFC debut in June last year, defeating Johnny Eduardo via D’arce choke at UFC Fight Night 131. He followed this up with a dominant performance at UFC 232 against Andre Ewell. Wood knocked the American down with a right hand in the first round before finishing him via rear naked choke in the third.
Wood’s last fight in London was at Cage Warriors 92, in a bout that saw him defend his bantamweight title against Luca Iovine via knockout in the first round. Since signing with the UFC, Wood has been vocal about his desire to fight in London with the promotion; following his victory in December, Wood shared “I want to be at the O2… and I want to represent my country and my hometown.”
He will face Mexico’s Jose Quinonez, who is undefeated in his last four UFC bouts since losing in his debut at UFC 180. “El Teco” last fought nearly a year ago at UFC 221, defeating Teruto Ishihara via unanimous decision. He was most recently slated to face rising star “Sugar” Sean O’Malley at UFC 229, however, this was canceled after O’Malley failed a USADA drug test just five days prior to the event.
Wood’s debut year with the UFC was outstanding and another dominant victory in front of his home crowd would continue his rise up the bantamweight rankings and may see him face a ranked opponent in his next bout. For Quinonez, whose UFC career has been fairly uneventful so far, a win against a highly thought of prospect like Wood would certainly improve his standing within the bantamweight division.
UFC Fight Night 147 will showcase some of the best and brightest English MMA has to offer. In the main event, Darren Till will make his return to the octagon after an unsuccessful title shot at UFC 228. He will face the current #10 ranked welterweight Jorge Masvidal, who has not fought since a loss to Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in 2017.
The co-main event will see the native Leon Edwards face Straight Blast Gym’s Gunnar Nelson. Edwards is currently on a six-fight win streak and after Nelson, wants to fight the winner of the cards main event. Nelson last fought at UFC 231, defeating veteran Alex Oliveira via rear naked choke. The submission specialist is currently undefeated when fighting in London, last defeating Peter Sobotta via TKO. Other Englishmen Tom Breese and Danny Roberts also feature on the card, facing Cezar Ferreira and Claudio Silva respectively.
UFC Fight Night 147 fight card
- Darren Till vs. Jorge Masvidal
- Leon Edwards vs. Gunnar Nelson
- Jack Marshman vs. John Phillips
- Claudio Silva vs. Danny Roberts
- Molly McCann vs. Priscila Cachoeira
- Gokhan Saki vs. Saparbek Safarov
- Volkan Oezdemir vs. Dominick Reyes
- Tom Breese vs. Cezar Ferreira
- Nathaniel Wood vs. Jose Quinonez
- Mike Grundy vs. Nad Naramani
For more fight announcements, make sure to check our Scheduled UFC Fights page.