Ray Wood has the highest of aspirations for his mixed martial arts career.
So the 25-year-old fighter known as “All Business” has opted to leave the Bangor area in part to chase that UFC dream.
Wood, the undefeated New England Fights featherweight champion, and his girlfriend recently relocated to Gaffney, South Carolina, where both are working at Limestone College and he is scoping out various gyms from which to base his future MMA endeavors.
“There were some personal reasons for the move as well,” said Wood, who grew up in Fort Myers, Florida, until moving to Bucksport as a seventh-grader and whose mother lives in Florida. “I’ve been wanting to try and branch out of Maine for a bit now but just didn’t have the opportunity. The opportunity came about so I decided to take it and explore what’s out there.
“Gaffney is a small town as well, but where I’m located now is an hour from Charlotte [North Carolina] and two hours from Atlanta and Atlanta has some great MMA gyms. There are some big-name gyms that have UFC fighters really right around the corner, and you don’t find that in Maine.”
Wood said one of the tougher elements of his move was the separation from Young’s MMA, where he had trained since his amateur days en route to his current 5-0 professional record and NEF championship status.
“It’s a little bit of a step back for now because I have to get reacclimated with a gym and find my comfort zone because Young’s MMA was really a family,” said Wood, who made a first successful title defense in September with a second-round technical knockout of Gabriel Baino in Lewiston. “We were real tight, real close together, but sometimes that can be a bad thing as well because we all kind of favor each other and know everything about each other.
“With me branching out to a new gym, I’m going to be out of my element. I’m not going to be as comfortable and I’ll be put in different situations but that’s kind of what I need and want.”
One possible training base for Wood could be right in Gaffney, home of UFC women’s bantamweight contender Sara McMann. McMann, a 2004 Olympic wrestling silver medalist, fought in Bangor on the Aug. 16 UFC Fight Night 47 card at the Cross Insurance Center, scoring a split-decision victory over previously undefeated Lauren Murphy.
“Unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to meet her when she was in Bangor and I still haven’t been able to make it over to her gym yet,” said Wood. “But her gym is probably one of the closer ones to me and with just the fact she’s in the UFC maybe I can gain some contacts or some extra exposure there.”
And Wood is not done fighting in Maine. With one bout remaining on his current NEF contract, he is expected to return to the Pine Tree State to defend his featherweight crown in February, and subsequent fights for the Maine-based promotion are not out of the question.
“We’re confident in our relationship with Ray and his home team and look forward to being his promotional base here in the Northeast as he moves closer toward reaching his career fight goals,” said NEF co-owner and matchmaker Matt Peterson. “We will always welcome him back with open arms and look forward to launching 2015 with a bang by bringing ‘All Business’ back for a homecoming fight that no one will want to miss.”
