UFC Fight Night 147: Till vs. Masvidal - Predictions and Picks

#4. Nathaniel Wood vs. Jose Quinonez

Nathaniel Wood has submitted both of his UFC opponents thus far

It seems a little weird to carry the nickname ‘The Prospect’ – after all, what happens when you’re ten years into your fighting career? – but I guess nobody gave Nathaniel Wood that memo. At any rate, the British Bantamweight has pretty much lived up to the nickname thus far in his UFC career, going 2-0 with submissions of Johnny Eduardo and Andre Ewell – pretty solid victories for a guy who’s still only 25 years old (despite already fighting professionally for 7 years).

Perhaps the best thing about Wood? You might be confused if you look at his UFC record, figuring he’s a grappling-based fighter due to his two submission wins. But that isn’t the case looking back at his pre-Octagon fights – 9 of his 13 pre-UFC wins came by strikes, and watching him in Cage Warriors shows a fighter fully willing to trade off with his opponent with little regard to his own well-being.

That doesn’t mean Wood is simply a wild brawler – his leg kicks are excellent, he holds a high guard and appears to chamber his combinations together pretty cleanly. And his chin appears to be absolutely granite judging on the video of his Cage Warriors fight with Josh Reed – described on Youtube as “the most incredible round in Cage Warriors history”.

Overall that penchant for striking could mean a fun match with Quinonez – a finalist in the original season of TUF: Latin America back in 2014. ‘Teco’ has only fought 4 times since his Finale loss to Alejandro Perez, and while he’s 4-0, his opponents – Leonardo Morales, Joey Gomez, Diego Rivas, and Teruto Ishihara – were hardly world-beaters.

Quinonez has largely used his grappling to earn those 4 wins, choking out Morales and then largely outwrestling his other three opponents to pick up decisions. He’s not actually a great grappler per se though; he has solid takedowns from the clinch and can clearly control an opponent, but none of his victims were as skilled on the ground as Wood appears to be judging on his first two UFC outings.

More worryingly for ‘Teco’, he was hurt by strikes in all 5 of his UFC fights, knocked down by Ishihara, Rivas and Gomez in his fights with them although he was able to recover. Clearly a tough guy, Quinonez wears punishment relatively well, but I’d worry for him against a striker as good as Wood, especially as he’s clearly willing to trade off as much as he’s willing to shoot for takedowns.

Overall this feels like a showcase fight for Wood in my book; Quinonez doesn’t seem as good as ‘The Prospect’ in any area really and barring Wood simply having no answer for Quinonez’s top control, which doesn’t seem likely, I see no reason for the Brit to slip up. Likely he prevents an early takedown, draws Quinonez into a trade and finishes him off shortly after.

The Pick: Wood via first round KO