Manchester – UFC featherweight Nathaniel Wood had anything but a smooth fight week with so much going on around him, but he got the win over Daniel Pineda at UFC 304 on Saturday night.
“Usually I don’t sleep well on weight cut night anyway,” Wood told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“I started overthinking the sleep pattern thing and just could not sleep. Today tried to sleep, couldn’t sleep.”
Wood (20-6) wasn’t only dealing with sleep issues. His daughter, who is facing health issues at a very young age, had to go to accident and emergency (equivalent of the emergency room in the US).
“My daughter had to go to A&E my wife said so I was a bit stressed about that and yeah it’s just been one of those things where it’s just one thing after another, but I got the win that’s the main thing. I could do with some sleep,” he said.
“She’s as good as she can be. The A&E situation wasn’t necessary. It was more my wife just making sure she’s ok with obviously not having doctors open on a Saturday. We got a few ongoing issues, but at the moment everything’s good.”
Knowing his daughter was ok was a huge relief for Wood. In the octagon however it was the crowd that got the featherweight going.
“Mate the crowd’s everything. Just before we came out for that third round when the doctor kind of came and checked his eye and then the crowd cheered when he gave it the all clear that’s everything,” Wood told Cageside Press.
“That makes it all worth it. Getting the win’s always the main priority, but hearing that crowd and I want to entertain people. That’s the main thing. When you hear the crowd cheering you on you know you like to think you’re doing something right.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Nathaniel Wood above.
