London, England — Joanne Wood finally returns to action at UFC 286, stepping back into the cage for the first time in roughly a year when she faces Luana Carolina this weekend.
“As soon as they asked me I was like ‘awww yes, yes please!'” Scotland’s Wood (15-8) said of her reaction to being asked to fight on the London card, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press during the event’s media day. “The only thing that was kind of holding me back was, I got a Pug last year, he’s now my pride and joy. So it was like ‘how do I get him to London?'”
“He’s my little stress ball, he means the world to me,” added Wood, who relocated to Las Vegas several years ago, and recently married Syndicate MMA head coach John Wood.
Unfortunately, the newest Wood family member did not make the trip to London after all, “but he’s in good hands,” Wood added.
Molly McCann absolutely demolished Wood’s opponent, Luana Carolina, a year ago at the O2 Arena in London; the Brazilian has not fought since. She’s returning to the scene of the crime, so to speak, something Wood touched on during Wednesday’s media day.
“She’s either really brave, or she’s forgot about what happened. It’s funny, Molly picked me up at the airport, she’s like ‘do you wanna go see a dead body?’ and I was like ‘oh, kind looks familiar, but good job Molly.'”
Wood has hit a rough patch of late, losing three straight fights over the past two years. The goal moving forward, she said, is “just to stay healthy, physically and mentally. Stay strong.”
“I’ve only got one more fight after this on my contract, so the goal right now is to get back in the win column and get another contract,” added Wood. “Because I feel like I”m not done yet.”
Watch the full UFC 286 media day with Joanne Wood above.
