Nathaniel Wood and Daniel Pineda at the UFC 304 official weigh-in. Photo by Patrick McCauley/Cageside Press
Rounding out the UFC 304 preliminary card was a featherweight showdown between Nathaniel Wood and Daniel Pineda, pitting the British star against a fighter with a 100% winning record.
Pineda had never won a decision before, but that didn’t matter to Wood, who was 6-2 the night before the judges’ decision.
The first round started well with both fighters reading each other’s moves, Pineda wrestling his way through Wood’s defenses. Wood hurt Pineda and landed some nice front kicks that put him in Pineda’s guard. Wood put up a great fight on top, but Pineda, a ground specialist, tried to submit Wood from his back and eventually swept him. Pineda finished the round with some nice elbows at the end of the round, making this a highly anticipated bout that could see the second round of a highly anticipated preliminary bout.
Nathaniel Wood did a great job chopping the legs in the second round. He landed some nasty combinations that hurt Pineda and Pineda’s right eye seemed to bother him the rest of the round. Pineda, being the fighter he is, did everything he could to keep him from finishing in the second round. After a strike to the groin from Pineda stopped the fight quickly, Wood took down Pineda with a kick to the calf and a hard jab and seemed to dominate the round. Each kick to the calf caused Pineda to go down. Wood did a great job in the second round and took down Pineda with a left hand to end the round in his favor.
Pineda, who controlled the majority of the bout, fought much better in the third round. He thrived with his wrestling and looked to submit whenever he could while he had the advantage. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough and Nathaniel Wood closed out the preliminary round with a unanimous decision win over Daniel Pineda.
Nathaniel Wood has an incredible 4-1 record since moving up to featherweight and may be one step closer to cracking the top 15 in the division.
Official result: Nathaniel Wood defeats Daniel Pineda by unanimous decision (29–27, 29–27, 29–28)
