Nathaniel Wood Explains How OCD 'Curse' Has Been Beneficial to MMA Career

🧠😣 Nathaniel Wood speaks about his OCD and how it 'helps' in his MMA career.

But still, if he could get rid off it with a snap of finger, he would do it.

Advertisement

🎥 @Home_of_Fight & @JakeNoeckerMMA pic.twitter.com/mbzkjmE0Ej

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 1, 2025

Nathaniel Wood would prefer not having an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), although it has seemingly helped his MMA career.

Wood has never made any secret of the fact that he has suffered from OCD and anxiety for a long time. “The Prospect” admits that while it’s a “curse” for him in general, it has been a blessing for his MMA career. Wood believes he wouldn’t have scaled the heights that he has if it was not for the days that his OCD forced him to go to the gym. However, the Englishman made it clear that he would have cured his OCD long back had he had a choice.

“In my life in general it’s a curse,” Wood told Home of Fight. “But having it is almost like a superpower that’s detrimental to your mental health but can really keep you on the right path. Because there’s been times when I don’t want to go training but my OCD’s like, ‘If you don’t go training, that’s it. You’re losing this fight.’ And I won’t be able to let that go, so it’s like, ‘F—k, get in the gym.’ It’s bittersweet. I don’t think I would be where I am in the sport if I didn’t have OCD. But if you said to me, ‘Do you wish that you could have got rid of it and you’re just happy where you’re at?’ Yeah, I would have got rid of it a long time ago.”

Wood is 9-3 in the UFC and coming off a unanimous decision win over Morgan Charriere last month that put him on a two-fight winning streak.