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Streaking UFC featherweight Nathaniel Wood is out of his grappling match against former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. Former UFC fighter Mike Grundy will step in for Wood to compete against Sterling at Polaris 25 on September 30. The news of this reshuffling was first reported by MMA Orbit.
The grappling match between Nathaniel Wood and Aljamain Sterling was announced in the first week of September. However, Wood has been booked to compete against Muhammad Naimov at the UFC 294 event in Abu Dhabi on October 21. Former UFC fighter Mike Grundy [12-4 MMA, 1-3 UFC] will step in to fight Aljamain Sterling to save the matchup.
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“Nathaniel Wood steps out of this match as he has booked a fight at #UFC294. Former UFC fighter Mike Grundy steps in to take on Aljamain Sterling at #Polaris25 on September 30th.”
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The grappling match will mark Sterling’s return to competition after losing the UFC bantamweight title to Sean O’Malley via second-round knockout at the UFC 292 PPV event. Meanwhile, Mike Grundy has not competed professionally in MMA since fighting Makwan Amirkhani in March 2022.
Aljamain Sterling questions the possibility of Israel Adesanya getting an immediate title fight rematch
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya lost the title for the second time in less than one year when he was outclassed by Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in September 2023.
UFC CEO Dana White and a large section of MMA experts opined that ‘The Last Stylebender’ deserved an immediate rematch to reclaim the title. However, 'Funkmaster' has not gotten the same treatment from the UFC after his loss against O'Malley.
While speaking on the Weekly Skraps podcast on his YouTube channel, Sterling stated:
“How did you give him another title shot, and then you tell me I don’t deserve it? That’s all I’m saying. I’m not knocking Izzy. Izzy, if they give you the title shot, brother, take that s*** and run. But what I’m saying it, how do you get it and I don’t? If the fans, Dana, whoever, if they can justify that to me, I’ll be like, ‘Alright, I can see your point.’ But I don’t see the point.”
Watch Sterling discuss the topic from the 20:25 mark of the video below:
