A talented Ultimate Fighting Championship prospect is doing anything he can to get on the upcoming card in his home city.
For the past few weeks, UFC bantamweight Nathaniel Wood (17-5) had been rumored to be competing at UFC Fight Night 208 on July 23. Wood’s appearance at the O2 Arena in London was dependent on him getting an opponent, as fighters like Kamuela Kirk or Vince Morales had been lauded as possible foes. Instead, Wood will be moving up to 145 pounds, where he will take on grappling specialist Charles Rosa (14-7). The news was first broken by reporter Al Zullino, and Sherdog has confirmed this matchup with sources close to the situation.
Wood will be making his debut at featherweight, although his last fight came in a 140-pound catchweight against Casey Kenney in October 2020. A slew of unexpected withdrawals for both him and his opponents following the “Fight of the Night”-winning scrap with Kenney have kept Wood on the shelf since that bout. “The Prospect” burst on to the scene thanks to five straight stoppages under the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship and Bellator MMA banners, and he followed those victories with three straight submissions in the Octagon. Since then, he has fallen short twice while winning against John Castaneda, and he will be looking to get back in the win column.
“Boston Strong” Rosa recently stepped into a cage in Titan Fighting Championships but not for an MMA match. Rosa and Julio Cesar Chaves grappled for 15 minutes, ultimately reaching a draw due to the time limit. His last MMA fight came in January, where he fell to T.J. Brown to go on the first losing streak of his career. The second defeat in two tries – the first came against Damon Jackson in October 2021 – also ended a remarkable stretch where Rosa neither won nor lost consecutive bouts for 11 UFC tilts in a row.
UFC Fight Night 208, also known as UFC London, will go down at the O2 Arena in London on July 23. Heavyweights will serve in the main attraction as vaunted wrestler Curtis Blaydes looks to stave off surging contender Tom Aspinall. The co-headlining assignment will go to Jack Hermansson vs. Darren Till at middleweight, while other fights on the main card include Paddy Pimblett vs. Jordan Leavitt at lightweight, a light heavyweight scrap between Paul Craig and Volkan Oezdemir, and another battle at 205 pounds between Nikita Krylov and Alexander Gustafsson.
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