A freak injury has forced Nathaniel Wood out of his UFC 286 fight with Lerone Murphy.
The featherweight contest had previously been announced for the March 18, 2023 Pay-Per-View event in London, England. However, on Wednesday, Wood revealed that a nasty gash sustained in training had taken him out of the fight.
“For those asking I unfortunately sliced my knee on some wooden trim on the outside of the mats going for a takedown,” Wood wrote of the mishap.
Images of the injury are not for the feint of heart.
Here's what happened: pic.twitter.com/VmgAPGc4wf
— Al Zullino (@phre) February 8, 2023
Wood (19-5) was looking to build on back-to-back victories he picked up in 2022, first at UFC London in July, and later at UFC Paris. Both of those outings saw Wood pick up unanimous decision wins, against Charles Rosa and Charles Jourdain, respectively.
“The Prospect” missed all of 2021 combating injury. Overall, the 29-year old is 6-2 inside the octagon.
Fellow brit Murphy (11-0-1) is undefeated in his professional career, and has won his last three fights. He missed all of 2022 however.
With the loss of Nathaniel Wood vs. Lerone Murphy, the following fights have been reported for UFC 286 at the O2 Arena on March 18, 2023:
- Leon Edwards (c) vs. Kamaru Usman — for the UFC welterweight championship
- Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev
- Gunnar Nelson vs. Daniel Rodriguez
- Marvin Vettori vs. Roman Dolidze
- Jack Shore vs. Makwan Amirkhani
- Sam Patterson vs. Yanal Ashmoz
- Muhammad Mokaev vs. Jafel Filho
- Jai Herbert vs. Ľudovít Klein
- Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Dusko Todorovic
- Joanne Wood vs. Luana Carolina
- Malcolm Gordon vs. Jake Hadley
- Julianna Miller vs. Veronica Macedo
- Jennifer Maia vs. Casey O’Neill
