UFC signs Cage Warriors champions Nathaniel Wood and Molly McCann

The UFC have signed Cage Warriors bantamweight champion Nathaniel Wood and Cage Warriors flyweight champion Molly McCann.

Multiple sources have confirmed to MMA Fighting that Wood (13-3-0) is close to finalizing his UFC debut. The UFC is targeting a June 1 meeting against Johnny Eduardo (28-11-0) in Utica for the London knockout artist. MMANytt.com first broke the news of Wood’s signing on Thursday.

McCann (7-1-0) will make her UFC bow in her hometown of Liverpool when she takes on Gillian Robertson (4-2-0) on May 27 at the Echo Arena, MMA Fighting has learned. MMA-Today.comfirst reported that the fight was being targeted on Monday.

Wood is coming off his third consecutive highlight reel knockout at Cage Warriors 92. “The Prospect” took just 50 seconds to dispatch Luca Iovine to record his second successful title defense.

Five-fight UFC veteran Eduardo will likely welcome Wood to the Octagon. He suffered a first-round defeat to Matthew Lopez at UFC 212 in his last fight. He is currently 3-2 under the UFC banner, taking wins against Eddie Wineland, Jeff Curran and Manny Gamburyan.

“Meatball” looked more comfortable than ever in as she completely outstruck Bryony Tyrell to claim the vacant Cage Warriors flyweight title in the same venue that will host UFC Liverpool, the Echo Arena, in February. McCann has suffered just one defeat in her MMA career. She dropped a decision to Vanessa Melo in her sophomore outing as a pro and has since clocked up a six-fight win streak.

Robertson banked a first-round submission win in her UFC debut at the TUF 26 finale when stopped Emily Whitmire with an armbar. She took a second-round defeat to Barb Honchak in the only exhibition bout she contested on the series. She got the call-up to compete on the season after establishing a 3-2 record.