{"id":40235,"date":"2026-09-01T03:12:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T03:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/UFC-hopeful-says-his-ov-surname-made-Nathaniel-Wood-turn-him-down-202604"},"modified":"2026-09-01T03:12:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T03:12:32","slug":"ufc-hopeful-says-his-ov-surname-made-nathaniel-wood-turn-him-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/ufc-hopeful-says-his-ov-surname-made-nathaniel-wood-turn-him-down\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC hopeful says his \u2018-ov\u2019 surname made Nathaniel Wood turn him down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Aboubakar
\nYounousov<\/a> blames his surname for a missed opportunity to make
\nan
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> debut.<\/p>\n

Younousov (8-0) claims he was willing to step up on short notice to
\nfight Nathaniel
\nWood<\/a> (23-6) at
\nUFC Paris<\/a> after the Englishman\u2019s original opponent withdrew
\nfrom the upcoming event. He claims Wood allegedly turned down the
\nmatchup, viewing it as a risky move.<\/p>\n

Aboubakar Younousov says Nathaniel Wood rejected short-notice
\nUFC Paris fight<\/h2>\n

Younousov, the Ares FC bantamweight champion, was even willing to
\nmove up a weight class to face Wood. He believes Wood turned down
\nthe matchup as certain surnames, primarily those that originate
\nfrom the Caucasus regions, are feared across mixed martial
\narts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, another fighter ultimately stepped in as a
\nreplacement because Nathaniel Wood refused to face me,\u201d Younosov
\nwrote on Instagram. \u201cYet, the odds were stacked in his favor:
\nweight, training camp, and experience. Honestly, I\u2019m actually
\npleased about it, because it shows I\u2019m feared. For my part, I was
\nready to take the fight at a moment\u2019s notice. These days, getting
\ninto the UFC is very difficult when your surname ends in \u2018ov\u2019 or
\n\u2018ev.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Younosov believes he has to work harder than others to make it to
\nthe UFC, but is confident that it is an inevitability.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsequently, I have to work five times harder than everyone else
\nto get the same opportunities,\u201d Younosov added. \u201cIn any case, we
\ndid everything in our power. I also want to give a special thanks
\nto my manager for his work, his efforts, and his commitment. Guys,
\neverything is fine. It\u2019s only a matter of time before I make it to
\nthe UFC and succeed there. I am 10,000% convinced of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood\u2019s original opponent for UFC Paris, Mairon
\nSantos<\/a>, pulled out a week before fight night and undefeated
\nMoldovan Pavel
\nAndrusca<\/a> (8-0) has now stepped up on short notice to face \u201cThe
\nLast Kingsman\u201d on Sept. 5 at Accor Arena in the French capital.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aboubakar Younousov blames his surname for a missed opportunity to make an Ultimate Fighting Championship debut. Younousov (8-0) claims he was willing to step up on short notice to fight Nathaniel Wood (23-6) at UFC Paris after the Englishman\u2019s original opponent withdrew from the upcoming event. He claims Wood allegedly turned down the matchup, viewing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}