Sports

Nathaniel Wood’s UFC 245 Predictions: Jose Aldo making dangerous mistake & Usman-Covington 50/50 fight


Usman and Covington are bitter rivals (Picture: Getty)

I was meant to fight in Vegas for UFC 232, but that card was moved to LA at the last minute. I was there in Vegas for fight week and it was really cool, it was a great experience. I didn’t get up to much but it’s definitely a place I’d love to visit again.

Of the three title fights at UFC 245, the one I’ll be looking out for is the main event, Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington. There’s a lot of bad blood between them and I think a lot of people will be tuning in to see Covington lose…



UFC 245 Main Card

Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington
Max Holloway vs Alexander Volkanovski
Amanda Nunes vs Germaine de Randamie
Marlon Moraes vs Jose Aldo
Petr Yan vs Urijah Faber

Usman vs Covington

I really don’t know who’s going to win that fight but I’m hoping Usman will. I’m not a fan of Covington at all so it would be nice to see Usman win, but as I say I’m really not sure who’s going to come out on top. Its 50/50, whoever turns up on the night for that one is going to get it.

I think the best fight for whoever wins would be against Jorge Masvidal, as that fight would draw a lot of people in. Leon Edwards also deserves a shot at the belt very soon, but I can’t see that fight happening right now. I don’t think he is a big enough name yet, so UFC might look to someone with a bigger profile like Masvidal.

It would definitely be nice if he got that shot though, especially since he is a UK guy, but he might have to fight someone like Tyron Woodley first to get himself in that conversation.

Holloway vs Volkanovski

Holloway is defending his title against Volkanovski (Picture: Getty)

I’m going with Max Holloway. I think this will be a decision, but I think he is going to win and I have a feeling he will dominant. I’m a big fan of him, he made his UFC debut when he was 20 years old and I think he was the youngest fighter in the promotion at the time, so I’ve been watching him for years now.

I think it’s going to be more of a striking bout, which will favour Holloway and he should take Alexander Volkanovski apart in that area. But it’s so hard to tell sometimes, obviously anything can happen in MMA and I could get it completely wrong but that’s what I’m hoping for. He’s definitely got my support in this one.

Nunes vs de Randamie

Nunes beat De Randamie way back in 2013 (Picture: Getty)

I’ve got to go with Amanda Nunes. She’s a good friend of my coach Brad Pickett, so I’ll always be rooting for her. I do think that she’s going to do the job, she’s a phenomenal fighter and I reckon she’s going to get it done within the first couple of rounds.

In my opinion, she is close to being the greatest female fighter of all time. Obviously considering what she did to Cris Cyborg, who a lot of people said was the best female fighter for years, I don’t think she’s far away from that at all and if she gets the win comfortably, it would put her right up there. Obviously MMA is a sport where anything can happen, you can be losing the whole fight and then win in the last minute, but if she goes in there and does a job in a good fashion, she can say that she is pound-for-pound the best female fighter ever.

Moraes vs Aldo

Aldo is making his debut at bantamweight (Picture: Getty)

This is an interesting one because Jose Aldo has been one of my favourite fighters for as long as I can remember. He was the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet at one stage, but he always struggled to make featherweight and now he’s gone down to bantamweight; I just think this could be the worst decision he has ever made. I saw a picture of him and his team-mates the other day and he didn’t look good. He’s probably got a lot more weight to lose too.

He’s now the same division as me and it would be an absolute honour to fight him one day, but by the look of that picture, I wouldn’t want to fight him. I feel that him pushing to make bantamweight could be very dangerous. I also don’t really understand why he’s doing it, obviously he got beat by Conor McGregor, but he’s been doing well. He clearly feels that he needs to do it and I wish him all the best, but I just hope he doesn’t get injured or badly hurt.

I honestly think that even if he does make the weight, he’ll crumble in the fight. There’s a big difference between ‘making weight’ and ‘making weight and still being able to fight’. A lot of fighters weigh in and think that’s job done, but for me I don’t think Aldo will be able to fight at 135lb. I hope I’m wrong, but I think Marlon Moraes will destroy him if he makes it to fight night.

Yan vs Faber

Yan is the favourite against Faber (Picture: Getty)

I think Petr Yan will do it. He’s obviously a young and upcoming fighter, so he should be fitter, stronger and more athletic than Urijah Faber. However, Faber’s been there done it and got the t-shirt, so you can never count him out. If Faber beats Yan in good fashion that puts him straight up there in the rankings and there’s no reason why he couldn’t get a title shot for that.

In that sense, it’s great for Urijah but I do think that Yan will pick him apart pretty easily. I’ll be rooting for Faber; I hope he gets the win because he’s a legend in the sport but both this and the Aldo fight are great match-ups in the bantamweight division. I’ll definitely be tuning in for both, they should be exciting fights.

Wood’s UFC 245 ‘Fight to Watch’

For me personally, it’s the Aldo fight. I’m really interested to see how it goes, but as I say I’m almost cringing for him because I really don’t think it’s a good decision. I do hope I’m wrong but that’s 100 per cent the fight I’ll be tuning in for just to see how he gets on at 135lb. If he does make it comfortably and fights well, then by all means I’d love to fight him and have a go at the all-time great.

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