Written by: Liam Mitchell
Nathaniel “The Prospect” Wood dispatched of eight fight UFC veteran Vaughan Lee at Cage Warriors 82 this past weekend, and was awarded with a title shot. This poses the question, should the young Londoner still be labelled as the prospect?
Lee, who’s faced names such as TJ Dillashaw, Raphael Assuncao, and Paddy Holohan, started out well, displaying his slick striking in the first round, and bettering Wood in that department. Wood, who had promised a first round finish, got stronger as the round neared an end, but couldn’t pick up the finish. The majority of the people in the Echo Arena scored the first round for Lee, meaning Wood had to change things up.
Wood came out for the second as fresh as he did for the first, but Vaughan had already tired. The UFC veteran’s output had slowed, and he was fading more and more with every second that went by. If that weren’t bad enough for him, Wood was landing shot after shot, and they were hard. With just over four minutes gone in the second frame, Wood pinned Lee against the cage, and started to unload. For the most part, “Love” covered up, but he threw one strike, and instantly regretted it. He went down, and Rich Mitchell intervened.
Cage Warriors President Graham Boylan pulled Wood aside moments before the official decision was announced, and whispered in his ear. As we see this a lot, many just assumed that it was a congratulations, but it was actually much more. In his in-cage post fight interview with Andy Friedlander, Wood ecstatically announced that Boylan had awarded him a title fight.
The fight will be for the vacant Cage Warriors Bantamweight Championship, and will take place on June 2 at the O2 at the Indigo in London, England. Wood does not yet have an opponent for the fight.
He has fought for a title before, that being the Lonsdale Bantamweight title, where he was defeated by Alan Philpott, but this championship belt means much more. As well as it being a much more important belt, as it’s a world championship, it comes at a much better time in Wood’s career.
