At UFC 321’s controversial night, Nathaniel Wood’s victory over surging featherweight contender and Sean O’Malley’s teammate, Jose Miguel Delgado, in the prelims caught all the attention. The Brit won the fight via unanimous decision despite his opponent outlanding him on the stats and arguably winning two rounds, which created a massive dispute among fans. Still, Delgado missing weight by one pound before the fight was one of the factors that probably swung the decision to Wood’s favor. However, as ‘The Prospect’ has been getting some heat for getting an underseved win, his act of generosity has also been getting praise.

The UFC fined Delgado 20% of his purse for missing weight by one pound, which, by rules, would’ve gone to his opponent, Nathaniel Wood. However, in a very kind gesture, the Brit revealed in a Home of Fight interview that he refused to accept the money, considering his young opponent’s monetary situation and believing that Delgado shouldn’t be punished harshly for missing one pound, while also recognizing that his opponent actually shouldn’t fight in the featherweight division because of his size. This gesture by Wood caught Sean O’Malley’s attention, even though Wood defeated his teammate.

Sean O’Malley praises Nathaniel Wood for not taking the 20% weight miss purse 

In the recent episode of The BrO’Malley Show w/ Sean O’Malley & Daniel O’Malley, the former bantamweight champion recapped the fight and said, “Jose Delgado vs Nathaniel Wood, that fight was so bad-a–. I was watching that on my phone in Puerto Rico driving. The fight got over, I could’ve been biased, I didn’t watch the fight. I thought Jose won for sure. We get to the Airbnb, Tim’s like ‘God that was f–ed up.’ And I was like ‘What do you mean that was f–ed up?’ The end of Nathaniel doing the interview that he won, I was like, ‘I thought Jose did enough. I thought he won two to one.’”

O’Malley and Delgado both train at The MMA Lab in Glendale, Arizona, so it’s natural that ‘Suga’ leaned toward his teammate while judging the fight’s outcome. But despite being a little biased for his teammate, O’Malley admitted that Wood refusing to take the 20% cut was straight-up “Gangster.”

On The BrO’Malley Show, Sean O’Malley also added, “But also, huge shout-out to Nathaniel Wood, I guess, because Jose missed by a pound or two or 20%, and Jose was supposed to give Nathaniel 20% of his purse. Nathaniel declined it; that’s f–ing gangster. That’s bad-a–. That guy, he should be getting props for that.”

And Wood should get props for that! While the majority of UFC fighters don’t refuse money that comes from an opponent missing weight, Wood straight up rejected it, thinking about his opponent’s situation more than his own. That deserves props. Now, after going home with a victory and some well-earned praise, the Brit wants nothing but a fight against an MMA legend. 

The Brit wants to fight Patricio Pitbull next  

It’s true that Wood vs. Delgado still remains one of the most controversial decisions of UFC 321. However, it has to be recognized that the judges decided ‘The Prospect’ as the winner. So after he faced a young, surging contender, Wood wants to test himself against a legend of the game, and he wants no one but Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire for his next fight.

At the post-fight interview, Wood said, “I feel like I deserve someone in the top 15 – somebody like Patricio ‘Pitbull,’ London in March. That would be one hell of a fight in my hometown. I think I’ve earned it, and I think that would be one hell of a fight.”

After defeating Dan Ige, ‘Pitbull’ was about to welcome OKTAGON champ Losene Keita at UFC Fight Night: Paris, but Keita missed weight, and immediately got cut from the promotion. But as the UFC gets closer to next year and prepares for a new era, they can book Wood vs. the Brazilian legend on an early pay-per-view card as an amazing featured fight. Currently, ‘Pitbull’ doesn’t have a fight booked, so the promotion can actually make this fight happen.

That said, as Wood has set his sights on the top 15, do you think he’s ready to take on the ranked contenders? Also, let us know your thoughts about whether the Brit refusing to accept his opponent’s weight-miss purse was the right move.