MMA After Bisping: UK MMA End Of Year Report Card – Pt. 3
Day 3 of our UK MMA report cards looks at the final 4 fighters that we selected at the start of the year.
If you missed the past few days you can find them right here:
Day 1 – Dean Garnett, Alan Philpott, Paddy Pimblett, Ryan Scope and Saul Rogers
Day 2 –Brendan Loughnane, Shoaib Yousaf, Ashley Reece, Chris Fishgold, Lewis Long
(Photo: Dolly Clew/Cage Warriors)
Nathaniel Wood
• Record: 12-3-0 (Win-Loss-Draw)
• Nickname: The Prospect
• Current Streak: 4 Wins
• Weight Class: Bantamweight
• Height: 5’6″ (168cm)
• Currently Signed to: Cage Warriors
Three wins, three finishes and one Cage Warriors title, what a year it was for Nathaniel Wood. He started out the year with an impressive win over for UFC man Vaughn Lee at Cage Warriors 82. He then went on to win the vacant Cage Warriors bantamweight title at Cage Warriors 84 by defeating Marko Kovacevic, before coming back from the brink of defeat in his first title defence against Josh Reed to secure his third TKO win of the year. Next year he’s rumoured to figure at Cage Warriors’ ‘Super Saturday’ fight card in March.
Summary: You can’t deny that Wood had a helluva year. He was impressive throughout and has the right team around him to keep his feet on the ground. My only slight concern at this point is the nature of the fights he’s having. His last two have been wars and he’s taken more than a few to land his own shots. The fight against Reed looked destined to end on an unhappy note, but he somehow pulled it out the bag with a left hook that changed that game. He can’t continue like this, but while he does it makes for a very exciting spectacle.
Will he get signed for UFC London? I don’t think he will, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he is.
(Photo: Caoilte De Barra / MMA Latest)
Cameron Else
• Record: 4-4-0 (Win-Loss-Draw)
• Nickname: Killa Cam
• Current Streak: 1 Loss
• Weight Class: Featherweight | Last Weigh-In: 145.2 lbs
• Height: 5’8″ (173cm)
• Currently Signed to: ???
After picking up the biggest win of his career in Dec. 2016 against Dylan Tuke, it’s fair to say that 2017 probably wasn’t the year that Cameron Else imagined it would be. Else fought only one time this year on the Cage Warriors 85 fight card in Bournemouth against Damo Weeden and looked to be on the brink of victory in the first round when he dropped his man and pounded away on him. On another night, the fight would’ve been stopped, unfortunately for Else, it wasn’t and in the second round Weeden came storming back to put Else away.
Summary: On the face of things, one fight and one loss doesn’t look like a great year, but if you follow Else on social media you will have seen that he’s spent a large amount of the year rolling with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone’s BMF crew and learning from them. That will stand him in good stead, but the problem he now has is that he’s a talented fighter who doesn’t have the best record. People won’t want to take fights with him and that could make for another frustrating 12-months.
Will he get signed for UFC London? No.
(Photo: Jamie Lee Smith / DN4Photography)
Kane Mousah
• Record: 10-1-0 (Win-Loss-Draw)
• Nickname: The Danger
• Current Streak: 3 Wins
• Last Fight: March 11, 2017, in ACB
• Weight Class: Lightweight | Last Weigh-In: 155.9 lbs
• Height: 5’10” (178cm)
• Currently signed to: Free agent
Two fights, two wins. It was a great year for Kane Mousah and he arguably picked up the biggest win of his career against Alex Enlund at ACB 70. Mousah has recovered superbly since his one and only loss to Marc Diakiese in May 2016 and has gone on to put three consecutive wins together against Onur Caglar, Lewish Monarch and then Enlund. With the wind in his sails, Mousah is not treading the line of a call up to the UFC or maybe a big opportunity elsewhere.
Summary: They say the real test of a fighter is how they react to a defeat and Mousah has been nothing but impressive since his first ever loss last year. His performance against Enlund was superb and I think this now puts him in a great position as a free agent. I’m excited to see what materializes for him next year. He deserves it.
Will he get signed to UFC London? Hard to say. You can argue he deserves it, but the UFC isn’t lacking numbers at lightweight so it’s unlikely.
(Photo: Dolly Clew/Cage Warriors)
Nad Narimani
•Record: 10-2-0
•Current Streak: 3 Wins
•Age: 30 | Date of Birth: 1987.04.14
•Last Fight: April 01, 2017 in CWFC
•Weight Class: Featherweight | Last Weigh-In: 144.9 lbs
•Affiliation: Bristol Impact Gym
•Height: 5’8″ (173cm)
Where is Nad Narimani? Since defeating Paddy Pimblett at Cage Warriors 82 he seems to have fallen off the radar everywhere and it’s bit a of a shame. He beat Pimblett convincingly in April and has allegedly been holding out for a better deal to return and defend his title. We don’t really know what’s going on in the background, but he’s no fight lined up and he’s not being promoted at all by Cage Warriors.
Summary: Hard to know what to say here really. He started the year off brilliantly with a dominant performance against Pimblett, but as stated above, he’s totally fallen off the radar. I hope he’s ok, injury free and looking forward to a big 2018.
Will he get signed for UFC London? No.
