Nathaniel Wood and Daniel Pineda will battle it out to get themselves back in the win column when the two square off at UFC 304.
The Featherweight's will go to war against eachother at the Co-op Live Arena on July 27.
After spending 10 fights between the domestic scene and bouts with BAMMA and Bellator, Wood found home for himself at Cage Warriors in 2017. After dispatching of Vaughn Lee in his promotional debut, Wood was handed a title shot against Marko Kovacevic, in which he dispatched of in the very first round. He then successfully defended his belt in a one round classic with Josh Reed before handing Luca Iovine only his second professional loss.
2024 marks Wood’s sixth year in the UFC, with the Pinedo bout being the 11th for promotion. Things got off to a flying start for the Great Britain Top Team man when he racked up a three fight win streak with three submission wins against Johnny Eduardo, Andre Ewell and Jose Quinonez – which set up a clash against the gritty UFC veteran John Dodson. After a closely ran contest, Dodson caught Wood with a solid left hook, which sent Wood crashing to the mat. Dodson pounced immediately and chipped away with short, sharp strikes which was enough for the referee to step in and stop the bout. The loss was Wood’s first in four years so he was keen to get back in the Octagon at the earliest opportunity, which presented itself 5 months later. ‘The Prospect’ managed to get his hand raised when he beat John Castaneda before losing to Casey Kenney before 2020 was done.
The next two years proved to be a frustrating one for Wood, who had three bouts cancelled and didn’t make the walk until the July of 2022. He then faced Charles Rose and Charles Jourdain before the year was out and picked up two unanimous decision wins. The 30-year-old then managed to make the walk twice in 2023 in which he beat Andre Fili before losing to Muhammad Naimov. Although having not competed in the octagon this year, Wood claimed a decision against Alex Caceres in a grappling bout at Polaris 27.
For Pineda, the bout will mark his first bout in over a year. The American joined the professional ranks back in 2007 and it took 5 years before he joined the UFC for his first run with the promotion. After two wins against Pat Schilling and Mackens Semerzier, Pineda found himself going 1-4 in his next five and ultimately released from the UFC. Determined to earn his spot back in the big leagues, Pineda amassed a three-fight win streak on the domestic scene before landing three fights with Bellator. After going 1-2 in his bouts, he parted ways with the promotion and had a few more bouts on the domestic scene before entering the PFL tournament in 2019.
Initially, things looked to be going extremely well for Pinedo in the PFL, picking up wins against Movlid Kaybulaev and Jeremy Kennedy which led to a showdown in the final against Lance Palmer. However, before the final could go ahead, Pinedo flagged for elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio in his system. In his hearing, he admitted to the use of a banned substance and was ultimately handed a six month suspension and pulled from the final.
Once the suspension was up, Pinedo was back in the UFC and defeated Herbert Burns before losing to Cub Swanson four months later. Half a year later, Pinedo squared off against Andre Fili in June 2021 but the bout was ruled a no contest due to an accidental eye poke. It would be nearly two years before he was back in the octagon when he got back to winning, with a second round submission against Tucker Lutz. Last time out, Pinedo dropped a unanimous decision to Alex Caceres.
