Featherweights
Nathaniel Wood (17-5 | 4-2 UFC) vs. Charles Rosa (14-7 | 5-7 UFC)Odds: Wood (-520), Rosa (+410)
It's been a while since Nathaniel Wood has stepped inside of the Octagon, and it'll be interesting to see how "The Prospect" fares in this trip up to featherweight. A Brad Pickett protege, Wood came to the UFC in 2018 with a rightful amount of hype, impressing with some solid and well-rounded performances as he worked his way to the fringes of the bantamweight rankings. But 2020 saw Wood hit a bit of a ceiling with losses to John Dodson and Casey Kenney; both were solid performances from the Brit, but he seemed to have little answer for quicker opponents that were able to consistently counter him or beat him to the literal punch. This move up to featherweight could pay some dividends in that regard as Wood faces some slower opponents, and this fight against Charles Rosa should be a nice proof of concept. Rosa's been fairly active since the UFC's pandemic break in 2020, which was a nice change of fortune after he spent most of the prior few years dealing with a career-threatening neck injury. And that's allowed "Boston Strong" to keep showing off a weird style that's often able to frustrate his opponents; Rosa mixes an evasive and kick-heavy striking style with some aggressive grappling chops. The whole package doesn't add up to much in terms of effective offense outside of when Rosa scores an outright finish, but it's usually enough to make things ugly and allow Rosa to get by skating on some thin margins. It'll be fascinating to see how Wood deals with a larger opponent that can also be evasive, but he should be well-trained enough to avoid a submission finish and find some success marching Rosa down and landing some offense, even if this may not be an overwhelmingly impressive debut for the Englishman at featherweight. Rosa should succeed in making this an ugly fight, but the pick is Wood via decision.
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