Nathaniel wood earned a comfortable unanimous decision win over Morgan Charriere tonight at UFC Fight Night 255 after dropping him in the opening round.
Round One
Low kick for Charriere and immediately returned to the inside of the leg by Wood. Wood lands a couple more leg kicks. Solid kick from Charriere now.
Big right hand from Wood lands clean and drops Charriere! Wood follows him down, but surprisingly avoids ground-and-pound in favor of potentially setting up a submission. That seems like the wrong choice as it gives Charriere time to recover and then he does well to sweep on top. Wood looks for a guillotine but doesn’t commit to it.
Charriere looking to settle on top, but Wood is now trying to set up a potential triangle choke or armbar. Charriere steers clear of that danger though and late in the round he’s starting to work some ground-and-pound.
Round Two
Inside leg kick for Wood. Nice left hook from him now after both miss leg kicks. Front kick to the body for Wood.
Wood back to the low kicks now. He lands a nice jab. Body kick for Charriere. Wood snaps Charriere heads back with the jab. He lands it again cleanly.
Wood’s jab can’t miss at the moment and Charriere’s coming up short with his. Low kick for Charriere. Right hand from Wood then an inside leg kick.
Charriere goes for a body kick, but Wood threw a leg kick at the same time and knocked him off-balance for a moment. He rights himself and goes into the clinch against the cage.
Body punch from Charriere and then they separate. At close range Charriere lands a good elbow to the head. Front kick to the body from Wood, but Charriere counters by driving in for a takedown against the cage.
Wood drops down searching for a guillotine choke, then attempts to transition on top. They both go back upright with Charriere still working the clinch, but they soon separate with Charriere landing an elbow. The action slows late in the round, aside from another low kick from Wood.
Round Three
Nice straight right for Wood to start the final round. He lands an inside leg kick. Charriere remaining patient despite almost certainly needing a finish here.
Body kick for Charriere. Wood’s clean jab lands again. Low kick for Wood. Light body kick from Charriere.
Charriere staying on the outside as Wood stalks him, but doesn’t commit too much with his strikes, perhaps not wanting to take too many risks when he’s already ahead on the scorecards.
Body kick for Charriere again. Still no urgency from him. Inside leg kick for Wood. Now he lands the jab. Jab for Charriere.
Double-jab from Wood. Jab for Charriere, low kick fro Wood and a spinning backfist attempt on the counter from Charriere that misses.
Jab for Charriere. Body kick from him. Final 10 seconds and Wood lands a jab. Spinning elbow attacks from Charriere but both miss.
Decision
Wood certainly had the better of the action here, though he did squander a potential finishing opportunity in the first round when he failed to capitalize on a good knockdown of Charriere. Wood got the better of the second round too and then stepped down a gear as he cruised to victory in the third to win by unanimous decision(30-27 x3).
