At UFC Bout Night 208 in July, Wood (18-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) won a unanimous decision over Charles Rosa, although Jourdain (13-5-1 MMA, 4-4-1 UFC) believes that the British fighter had enough opportunities to end the fight.
On Saturday, at Accor Arena in Paris for UFC Fight Night 209, he and Wood will go head to head, and he has stated that he intends to take Wood to the very limit. You can watch the fight on ESPN+.
“The calf kick, I was like, ‘Why you don’t do more? You’ve got a man who’s on one leg and he doesn’t want to fight anymore. You’re destroying him,’ and he didn’t push for the finish, which is not like me. People are calling this a striking match. I think I’m going to have to sprawl and brawl with him. That’s my guess.
“Heavy pressure from myself. I need to be aware of that speed. But I think I can break him mentally. I think Charles Rosa wasn’t pushing enough. I think he got caught by those leg kicks and it killed his confidence. I just need to push the pace from Round 1, and I think by Round 2, I can break him mentally.”
“Fact that he doesn’t want to finish his opponent as much as big featherweights want,” Jourdain said.
“He really had something given on a platter last time, and he didn’t push to finish. I don’t know if it was the stress of getting caught or whatever, but the lack of killer instinct, I think, is his biggest weakness.”