A bantamweight clash between Nathaniel Wood (17-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC) and Jonathan Martinez (13-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) is in the works, sources with knowledge of the situation informed BJPENN.com. The sources asked for anonymity since the news hasn’t been officially confirmed yet.

The contracts have not been signed, but it seems it’s in the promotion plans to book this fight in London, for September 4.

Nathaniel Wood made his UFC debut three years ago, in June 2018, after an impressive run in one of the most relevant European mixed martial arts promotions, Cage Warriors. In fact, the British fighter was able to capture the promotion’s 135lbs gold and successfully defended it twice, before inking a deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Since his promotional debut, Wood racked up a positive record of four victories and two defeats. “The Prospect” is now returning to fight in his home country since March 2019, when he faced José Alberto Quiñónez and submitted the latter in the second round.

The California-born bantamweight Jonathan Martinez competed for the first time in the UFC in 2018 too, after cutting his teeth in the regional American scene, competing for local promotions such as Legacy Fighting Championship, Fury Fighting Championship, as well as Combate Americas.

Both fighters are coming off of a loss and are going to try and bounce back in the winning column. The “Dragon”, in fact, was already campaigning for a ranked opponent after his unanimous decision victory over Thomas Almeida.

“Hopefully it puts me in the top-15 or gets me a ranked opponent,” said Martinez before his last fight against Davey Grant during an interview on Just Scrap Radio with BJPENN.com’s own Cole Shelton.

Eventually, Jonathan Martinez was stopped by Grand in the second round, and he’ll now try to climb the bantamweight division ladder facing another Breton fighter in Nathaniel Wood.