Imagine yourself a UFC athlete in financial limbo, and an opponent pulls out of your big-money return fight at the last minute – that could be a death sentence for any professional career.
Dana White is regularly in the spotlight over UFC fighter pay, with the vast majority of headlines being around athletes not being paid enough to compensate for the risks involved; let alone for training camp and coaching expenditures.
However, there are also plenty of stories about the UFC CEO showing more than his fair share of goodwill, with popular British standout Nathaniel Wood now revealing how White once saved his career with a paycheck he didn’t need to make.
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UFC fighter recalls how Dana White saved his career with surprise payout
After dropping a razor-close decision to Casey Kenny in October 2020, Nathaniel ‘The Prospect’ Wood found himself out of action and on the sidelines for almost two years.
Over that time, he’d racked up some debt and was considering his options when the UFC came calling for a homecoming bout at UFC Fight Night: Aspinall vs Volkov in 2022.
Unfortunately, not only did his original opponent withdraw from the fight, but so did the athlete who was drafted in as the late-notice replacement.
“The UFC said ‘Obviously, you’re not going to be fighting’ and I was told that I would get some compensation money,” Wood explained during a recent video on FightFront.
“Now as you can imagine, I wasn’t waiting on compensation money; I was getting $26,000 to fight and $26,000 to win – and at the time, I was minus £2000 [in debt]. I’d just forked out for something, had a tax bill coming up and I wasn’t doing the best.
“It was like ‘Ah s—, compensation money isn’t going to be great’, and I was told it might be five-to-ten-thousand [dollars],” said Wood, recalling how Dana White came through as his guardian angel, of sorts.
“Backstage at the ceremonial weigh-ins I see Dana White, he comes over and I said ‘Dana, I’m gutted, I was ready to put my life on the line, I’ve done everything I can, I’ve been told about compensation but is that really happening because I really need it.’
“And he said, ‘Don’t worry buddy, I’ll pay you everything’ – so not only did he pay me for my fight purse, but he also paid me the win bonus as well… Someone then came up and told me ‘Yeah, so we’ll pay you $52,000 even though we don’t have to’.”
Wood described that paycheck as “life-changing money” because if he hadn’t gotten that purse, “there’s a good chance that I may have had to go and get some work on the side or just said enough is enough.
“The guy who everyone gives stick [to] paid me when he didn’t have to pay me,” said Wood, noting that he was “very fortunate” as that money went towards paying for his wedding a few months later.
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Nathaniel Wood returns to UFC action at UFC Fight Night: London
In his most recent fight, ‘The Prospect’ scored a solid decision win over Daniel Pineda and is now scheduled to compete again at UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Della Maddalena in March.
Wood might have gained some momentum back thanks to that impressive UD victory but certainly has a much tougher matchup ahead of him against surging French contender, Morgan Charriere.
Charriere burst onto the MMA scene in 2023 with a first-round TKO of Manolo Zecchini.
Whilst ‘The Last Pirate’ might have lost a razor-close split decision to Chepe Mariscal last April, the stylish Frenchman bounced back with a second-round TKO of Gabriel Miranda in September.
Charriere has also won post-fight bonuses in each of his three UFC fights so far.
Wood vs Charriere is scheduled for March 22 on the main card of UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Della Maddalena and according to the UFC website, is set to open up that main card showing.