Featherweights
Nathaniel Wood (19-6, 7-3 UFC) vs. Daniel Pineda (28-15, 5-6 UFC)Buy UFC 304 for a chance to win a VIP trip to UFC 310 in Las Vegas!
After suffering his first loss in the UFC as a featherweight, Wood looks to regroup in an engaging matchup. The Londoner came to the UFC in 2018 advertised as one of the world’s top bantamweight prospects, and Wood lived up to the hype as he hit the ground running, holding his own in all phases while showing a knack for combining aggression with technical skill. Wood’s momentum was halted with a knockout loss to John Dodson in 2020, which was understandable, but after getting outpaced by Casey Kenney two fights later, “The Prospect” decided to move up to 145 pounds in an interesting gambit. Wood didn’t seem oversized for a bantamweight and didn’t seem to possess the type of speed that would pop up at featherweight, so it wasn’t clear how well his game would translate in a higher weight class. It’s impressive that Wood essentially picked up where he left off in terms of success, scoring impressive wins over Charles Rosa, Charles Jourdain and Andre Fili. It was only against Muhammad Naimov in October that Wood’s physicality issues came to the forefront. Naimov—a large and thickly-built featherweight—managed to drag Wood into a grimy and foul-filled affair and hand him his first loss at 145 pounds. Wood returns to take on Pineda, who has had a fun second act in the UFC as an exciting veteran. “The Pit” had a solid if unmemorable seven-fight run with the UFC from 2012 to 2014, after which he went promotion-hopping for half a decade before returning to the Octagon in 2020. Pineda’s kill-or-be-killed approach has brought entertainment to the cage every time out, as he has honed his skills thanks to years of experience while still having the reckless mindset of a much younger fighter. Pineda can cause damage at all levels, but over the long haul, he tends to overextend himself or just charge into danger, as exhibited by the fact that he has never won a decision in over 40 fights. Wood’s approach, built around countering while staying aggressive, could be a bit of a double-edged sword here. He should be able to outmaneuver Pineda in most exchanges but figures to get hit hard at least a few times. With that said, the lean is that the Englishman is durable enough to survive over the long haul and increasingly take things over. The pick is Wood via third-round stoppage.
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