UFC featherweight Nathaniel Wood has enjoyed a steady rise through the ranks of MMA over the years, first through the European promotion Cage Warriors and now the UFC. Having amassed a 19-5-0 record, “The Prospect” has joined the UFC and won six of his eight fights, looking to head to the top. However, Nathaniel Wood is grateful for those in his early days, especially MMA referee Marc Goddard.
Wood, like many others of the sport, recognizes how fine of a line referees walk when deciding whether to end a fight or let it continue on. They have to consider if the fighters are intelligently defending themselves, the career prospects of the fighters and avoiding damage, and how the fight played out before the particular moment where a stoppage is in question.
However, the same referees have to give the athletes ample chance to compete, as there are plenty of instances where fighters have come back despite suffering severe damage: think back to Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry’s electric fight at UFC Versus 4. If Dan Miragliotta had stepped in, this moment would have never happened. Wood had this same experience, and he recently spoke on it and showed Goddard gratitude.
Nathaniel Wood Thankful: ‘My Life Would’ve Completely Changed’
Wood sat down with a self-proclaimed “pacifist” on MMA On Point’s channel “Fight Front” and discussed the nature of the fight game. Although the pacifist remained worried about all violence that undoubtedly would occur in the sport of mixed-martial arts, she remained especially worried about unnecessary violence due to late stoppages.
The video is a follow-up to one showing pacifists the some of the most shocking knockouts in the UFC and all around MMA.
However, Nathaniel Wood was more than grateful for longtime MMA referee Marc Goddard’s decision to let his fight continue, even going as far as to say that it had a profound impact on his life. He credits Goddard with giving him time to recover and collect himself, and this resulted in him retaining his Cage Warriors bantamweight title.
Wood All Praise Towards Goddard
“There’s been times where you see fights and you’re thinking, ‘Ref, stop this fight!’ And they haven’t stopped it,” Wood said. “In my fight against Josh Reed, he’s smashing me all over the place for the first two minutes. Luckily, the ref, Marc Goddard, could see that I was still defending myself, could see that I was still in the fight, and he didn’t stop it. I then turned it around and won that fight.”
‘I”m glad he didn’t stop it, because I then won my fight, which led me to be signed by the UFC and completely changed my life. If he had stepped in, I would still be earning zero money… I wouldn’t be able to be getting married next year; I wouldn’t be able to afford anything,” Wood added. “My whole life would have been completely changed if he had stepped in. So I thank God he didn’t.”
This fight took place in 2017 on “The Prospect’s” title reign where he defended the belt a total of three times before moving on to the UFC. On that night, “Crazy Horse” Josh Reed appeared seconds away from winning the title, but Wood stayed strong and pushed the fight to the clinch where he landed a heavy succession of blows and put Reed out on his feet, all under two-and-a-half minutes.
After his three defences, Wood signed to the UFC and he posted a 6-2 record with one Performance of the Night bonus. It’s safe to say that he has good reason to be grateful for Mark Goddard’s style of officiating, and will only be on the rise from here. Who knows- maybe they will meet in the Octagon again someday.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images and Embed from Getty Images
