Nathaniel Wood slams ‘weight bully’ Losene Keita ahead of UFC London clash

Nathaniel Wood can’t wrap his head around ‘ancient’ methods of weight-cutting in the UFC.

Wood returns to the Octagon on home soil for UFC London next weekend against debutant Losene Keita.

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The much-debated subject of extreme weight cutting is especially prevalent for the pair’s clash, as Keita missed weight for his original inaugural UFC appearance in September.

Keita tipped the scales 3lbs heavier than the 146lbs featherweight limit and unsuccessfully offered opponent Patricio Pitbull his purse to try and make the fight happen at catchweight.

The Belgian fighter apologised for what he labelled a first-time error, and while some fans thought he may be cut for the incident, Keita was offered a second chance against Wood in London.

“Keita’s a super talented guy, obviously a prospect, but he’s beaten everyone up that he’s been given in the cage,” Wood said of his opponent, speaking to talkSPORT.com.

Keita is a former double champion under the Oktagon banner and has won 16 of his 17 professional MMA bouts, with his sole defeat due to a leg break in the first round.

“I don’t see myself doing what his opponents have done,” Wood added.

“I think every guy that he’s already fought has gone in there and is already shelling up and on the back foot before the fight’s even started.

“I’ve seen his style, so he’s a bully. He is a bully and he’s a weight bully.”

Keita’s weight cut will no doubt be in the back of Wood’s mind as fight week approaches.

After all, Wood’s last opponent Jose Delgado missed weight by 1lb for their featherweight clash at UFC 321 in October.

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Delgado was fined 20 per cent of his purse for the weight miss, although Wood, who received the money, said he later returned it to the American.

Wood wound up outpointing Delgado as the underdog in their Abu Dhabi clash, making it three wins on the bounce in Dana White‘s promotion.

Wood dumbfounded by ‘ancient’ weight-cutting methods

“He’s trying to cut ridiculous amounts of weight just so that he can have a slight weight advantage,” Wood continued on Keita.

“The style that he has, he likes being on the front foot. He likes bullying his opponents. He likes his opponents being very submissive on the back foot.

“I’m not going to do that. I’m going to look to take his head off as soon as he tries to take mine.”

Wood is confident his game plan will get him over the line against Keita on March 21.

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The former Cage Warriors bantamweight champion used to cut down to 135lbs, but is now ‘eating and drinking’ anything he wants now he’s closer to his walk-around weight.

“For him, he’s going to be drained as f*** right now,” Wood said.

“The last time he cut to 145, he missed weight. I don’t know what him or his coaches are playing at, but I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Bro, why are you so desperate to cut to 145 when you were smashing guys at 155?’

“All I’m thinking is you’re trying to look for that extra advantage, which you don’t need, because he was doing so well at lightweight.

“I think that that’s where he’s going to come unstuck. He’s going to be so drained come fight night that he’s not going to have the gas tank.

“He’s not going to have the chin. He’s not going to have the capability to perform how he should perform. He’s not going to feel strong.

“I feel like it’s such an ancient method and I feel like people need to have more confidence in their skill set.”

Wood is backing his ‘speed’ and ‘health’ advantage to prove too much for Keita on the night.

He says fighting in the English capital makes him feel ‘superhuman’ and he is desperate for a ranked opponent next.

The Southwest London man runs a Pokémon card collection business on the side with his wife and doesn’t plan to hang around in the fight game for much longer.

UFC London is headlined by a featherweight title eliminator between Briton Lerone Murphy and Movsar Evloev.

Alexander Volkanovski is the current champion of the division and likely to defend his belt against the winner next.

UFC Schedule

For all the upcoming fights and results this year, check out talkSPORT.com’s UFC schedule.