Nathaniel Wood won’t be fighting Umar Nurmagomedov on July 25 – but he’ll still be fighting.
Expected to fill in for Nurmagomedov to fight Wood (16-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC) is a former Combate Americas bantamweight champion, John Castaneda (17-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC). The event will take place on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi as the fourth event the promotion will hold in 15 days.
Multiple people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the targeted booking Thursday but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Castaneda will make his long-awaited UFC debut 22 fights into his professional career. From May 2015 to November 2017, Castaneda won 11 straight fights. He also competed on Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 1, defeating Cheyden Leialoha by unanimous decision. He is 1-2 in his most recent three bouts.
Conversely, Wood will look to rebound from his first UFC loss. After defeating Johnny Eduardo, Andre Ewell and Jose Quinonez in succession to kick off his promotional tenure, Wood was finished via strikes by John Dodson in February.
With the changes, the current July 25 lineup includes:
Darren Till vs. Robert Whittaker
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Mauricio Rua
Alex Oliviera vs. Peter Sobotta
Alexander Gustafsson vs. Fabricio Werdum
Carla Esparza vs. Marina Rodriguez
Nicholas Dalby vs. Jesse Ronson
Tom Aspinall vs. Jake Collier
Raphael Pessoa vs. Justin Tafa
Movsar Evloev vs. Mike Grundy
Bethe Correia vs. Pannie Kianzad
John Castaneda vs. Nathaniel Wood
Ramazan Emeev vs. Niklas Stolze
Jai Herbert vs. Francisco Trinaldo
Gadzhimurad Antigulov vs. Paul Craig
UFC taps John Castaneda to replace Umar Nurmagomedov, will fight Nathaniel Wood on 'Fight Island'
