Charles Jourdain vs. Nathaniel Wood: UFC Fight Night Paris Odds, Prediction

The first main card bout at UFC Fight Night Paris on Saturday features Canadian Charles Jourdain taking on Nathaniel Wood in a featherweight matchup. Jourdain is a -165 favourite to win on the MMA odds, with Wood at +120.

Charles Jourdain -160
Nathaniel Wood +125

Charles Jourdain UFC Fight Night Paris Odds

Alexander Volkanovski is the featherweight champion and Jourdain is unranked. The 26-year-old is from the Montreal area and is 13-5-1 in his professional MMA career – which began on May 21, 2016, with a first-round KO of Thomas Sumantri in the Quebec Mixed Martial Arts League. He also was previously a TKO Major League MMA double champion, winning the featherweight and interim lightweight titles.

Jourdain’s first UFC fight was in May 2019, a unanimous decision loss to Desmond Green. “Air” comes off a July loss to Shane Burgos via majority decision to snap a two-bout winning streak. Many fans on social media and in person panned the judges’ decision (scores were 29-28, 29-28 and 28-28) against Burgos thinking the Canadian won.

The 5-foot-9 Jourdain’s fights average 12:43. He lands 5.85 significant strikes per minute with 50 per cent accuracy and absorbs 4.31 per minute with 59 per cent defence. His takedown average is zero, and his takedown defence is 51 per cent.

Eight of his 13 wins are by KO/TKO, one by submission and one by decision – four of his five losses are via the judges. For Saturday, his favoured method of victory is by points at +165, KO/TKO/DQ at +175 and by submission at +800.

Both Jourdain and Wood have an equal reach of 69 inches, but Jourdain is three inches taller.

Nathaniel Wood UFC Fight Night Paris Odds

The 29-year-old Wood, from England, is 18-5 in his MMA career (former bantamweight champion in Cage Warriors organization) and 5-2 since joining the UFC. He’s not ranked, either.

“The Prospect” has alternated wins and losses over his past five and will be making a pretty quick turnaround as he just fought July 23 and beat Charles Rosa by unanimous decision – Wood’s first bout in nearly two years. Two previously scheduled fights had been cancelled. Wood said it felt good to be back after finding himself in a “dark place.”

“I had a lot of pressure on me for this fight,” he said. “In my hometown, back after almost two years and moving up in weight, I couldn’t have had any more pressure on me. It’s been a dark place, I still got paid for that fight luckily. I was starting to struggle a bit, it was a kick in the n*** but as soon as I heard the UFC were going back to London, I made sure I got a place on the card.”

The 5-foot-6 Wood’s fights average 12:05. He lands 6.32 significant strikes per minute with 48 per cent accuracy and absorbs 4.19 per minute with 56 per cent defence. Wood averages 1.25 takedowns per 15 minutes with 50 per cent accuracy, and his takedown defence is 76 per cent.

Nine of his wins are by KO/TKO, five by submission and four by decision, while he has two losses by KO/TKO, two by submission and one by decision. His favoured margin of victory Saturday is by points at +235, submission at +550 and KO/TKO/DQ at +800.

Wood will be the better grappler here, but Jourdain is a talented striker who should be able to negate Wood’s ability on the ground. That the fight goes over 2.5 rounds is -160 but that it doesn’t go the distance is a slight -132 favourite.