There will be no homecoming for Nathaniel Wood at UFC Fight Night 204.
The London-born bantamweight was set to face Vince Morales on Saturday at 02 Arena, but was left searching for a short-notice replacement on Wednesday. Morales (11-5 MMA, 3-3 UFC) arrived in England to face Wood (17-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) as scheduled, but has dealt with fever since his arrival and was forced out of the fight.
However, instead of scrambling for a replacement, all sides will move forward with keeping the bout between Morales intact, and look to reschedule the contest for a later date, Wood announced via social media.
“I’m absolutely heartbroken to announce I will not be competing on Saturday due to my new opponent Vince morales being sick,” Wood wrote on Instagram. “As everyone knows this was everything to me but unfortunately it’s not meant to be. Thank you to the whole team at the @ufc @ufceurope who have been amazing this week. We will be looking to reschedule with Vince morales ASAP.
“Thank you everyone who has been messaging and apologize if I haven’t replied, my team, sponsors and family. I’m going to switch off my phone for a while.”
Liudvik Sholinian was the original opponent set to face wood, but following his withdrawal, Morales stepped up as a replacement. Unfortunately for Wood, his second attempt at fighting in London fell through as well, and will look to rebound from his UFC 254 loss to Casey Kenney by facing Morales at a later date.
With Wood confirmed as off the card, the UFC Fight Night 204 lineup now includes:
- Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall
- Arnold Allen vs. Dan Hooker
- Paddy Pimblett vs. Kazula Vargas
- Gunnar Nelson vs. Takashi Sato
- Luana Carolina vs. Molly McCann
- Jai Herbert vs. Ilia Topuria
- Makwan Amirkhani vs. Mike Grundy
- Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Sergei Pavlovich
- Paul Craig vs. Nikita Krylov
- Jack Shore vs. Timur Valiev
- Cory McKenna vs. Elise Reed
- Nathaniel Wood vs. TBA
- Cody Durden vs. Muhammad Mokaev
