Featherweights
Charles Jourdain (13-5-1, 4-4-1 UFC) vs. Nathaniel Wood (18-5, 5-2 UFC)It is good to see Wood make up for lost time, particularly in a scintillating matchup like this. A Brad Pickett protege, London’s Wood came to the UFC as a hyped bantamweight prospect and quickly lived up to his billing with some impressively well-rounded wins to start off his Octagon career. However, 2020 was a bit of a setback. John Dodson managed to score a come-from-behind knockout against Wood, and after a rebound win over John Castaneda, he seemed to have little answer for the quicker counter-heavy game of Casey Kenney. From there, various issues kept Wood out of action until July, a return that saw him start a full-time move up to featherweight. Wood looked excellent in a dominant decision win over Charles Rosa, seemingly helped greatly by the speed advantage his new weight class provides. He gets a much tougher test against Quebec’s Jourdain, who continues to keep an active schedule. At 364 days since his fight against Julian Erosa, this marks the fifth trip to the Octagon for the Canadian within a year. Jourdain came to the UFC as a relatively structureless fighter with an approach built entirely around hunting for a finish, but he has honed his craft through experience, taking fights whenever possible and looking better each time out. The ethos of Jourdain’s fighting style is still to keep trying things until something works, but he has shown a much better ability to adjust to his opponents over the course of a fight, to the point that he is usually a terror by the third round. Like Wood, Jourdain is making a quick turnaround from a fight in July that resulted in an instructive close loss to Shane Burgos. The Team Tiger Schulmann export exploited Jourdain’s questionable takedown defense—still the clearest weakness in his game—for two rounds, only for the former TKO Major League MMA champion to finally find some success putting on the pressure in the third, nearly stealing the fight. Wrestling remains seemingly the biggest question for Jourdain in this assignment. On the feet, Wood’s own willingness to lean into his offense leaves him open to an opponent willing to throw back with counters, something that certainly seems to describe Jourdain. As the more durable fighter and potentially the harder hitter, the bet is that Jourdain can land the most impactful blows of the fight and stay ahead on the scorecards, though this should be an entertainingly close scrap throughout. The pick is Jourdain via decision.
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Gane vs. Tuivasa
Whittaker vs. Vettori
Di Chirico vs. Kopylov
Haqparast vs. Makdessi
Gomis vs. Errens
Jourdain vs. Wood
The Prelims