Capping off the preliminary card at UFC 304, Nathaniel Wood and Daniel Pineda faced off in a featherweight scrap that pitted British star Wood against a fighter who boasted a 100% finish rate among his wins.
Pineda had never been to a decision and won, something that had not been a problem for Wood, who was 6-2 to start the night before the judges.
The first round was off to a nice start with both fighters making their reads. Pineda tried to go to his wrestling with Wood defending nicely. Wood landed a nice front kick that hurt Pineda and put him in the guard of Pineda. Wood did some nice work on top but Pineda who is a specialist on the ground used submission attempts from his back to eventually sweep Wood. Pineda finished the round with some good elbows to end the round and the fight got to see a round two of the highly anticipated featured prelim.
Nathaniel Wood was doing a great job at chopping the legs in round two. He landed a nasty combination that hurt Pineda whose right eye seemed to bother him the rest of the round. Pineda the fighter he is went down swinging to save him from being finished in the second round of the fight. After a quick stoppage for a groin strike to Pineda, Wood seemed to just take over the round dropping him with calf kicks and a stiff jab. Every calf kick was sitting Pineda down. Wood, who was looking spectacular in the second round sat Pineda down with a left hand to finish the round on top.
After domination for most of the fight Pineda fought a much better round in round three. He was successful with his wrestling and was looking for a submission every chance he could while he was on top. Unfortunately, it would not be enough as Nathaniel Wood found a way to hang on for the unanimous decision win Over Daniel Pineda to close out the prelims.
Nathaniel Wood is now 4-1 since moving up to featherweight and he has looked phenomenal. He might just be inching closer to a top 15 ranking in the featherweight division.
Official Result: Nathaniel Wood def. Daniel Pineda by unanimous decision (29–27, 29–27, 29–28)
