Nathaniel Wood vs Andre Fili added to UFC London lineup
UFC on ESPN 49 is coming along quite nicely, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship continues adding exciting match ups to the event.
UFC on ESPN 49, headlined by ranked heavyweights Tom Aspinall and Marcin Tybura, is to go down on July 22, 2023, live from the o2 Arena in London, England.
We’ve got a very intriguing bout that’s recently been added to the lineup coming in the featherweight division between Nathaniel Wood (19-5) and Andre Fili (22-9, 1 NC).
Nathaniel Wood came to the UFC with a lot of hype surrounding his name.
A Brad Pickett protégé, Wood joined the UFC roster in 2018 as the Cage Warriors bantamweight champion, a title he defended twice prior to joining. He came over on a five-fight win streak, all five wins via finish (4 knockout, 1 submission), and he quickly rattled off three-straight submission victories upon arrival.
These victories showed him defeat the likes of BJJ black belt Johnny Eduardo (D’Arce choke), Andre Ewell (rear naked choke), and Jose Alberto Quinonez (rear naked choke).
This was all done in about nine months’ time, before he’d suffer his first promotional defeat to former two-time flyweight title challenger John Dodson (TKO). Wood rebounded with a victory over John Castaneda (UD), before losing again, this time to Casey Kenney (UD).
Wood has since moved up to 145 lbs, where he currently holds a two-fight win streak over the likes of Charles Rosa (UD) and Charles Jourdain (UD).
Andre Fili on the other hand has been in the UFC since 2013, where he picked up a second-round knockout victory in his promotional debut that improved his record to 13-1 in the process (only defeat coming via injury).
Following his debut, many people pegged him to have the amount of success Conor McGregor has had; his precise, accurate, and effective striking just looked incredible, and it put a lot of hype on his name. It was one hell of a debut.
However, he’d lose his next fight to eventual champion Max Holloway (guillotine choke), and he’s gone back-and-forth between wins and losses ever since, never winning more than two-straight after joining the UFC on an eight-fight win streak.
There were two decisions in there that could’ve easily gone his way, when he lost to Michael Johnson (SD) and Sodiq Yusuff (UD). Had he gotten the nod in those two fights, he would’ve had a seven-fight win streak from 2017 to 2020.
Nonetheless, he wasn’t given the nod in those fights. He does however boast solid wins over the likes of Gabriel Benitez (KO), Hacran Dias (UD), Artem Lobov (UD), Dennis Bermudez (SD), Myles Jury (UD), Sheymon Moraes (KO), Charles Jourdain (SD), and most recently Bill Algeo (SD) back in September of last year.
Who do you see coming out on top in this exciting featherweight affair going down at UFC London?
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