LONDON – Joanne Wood very much is in need of a win, and she realizes it heading into UFC 286.
Wood will take on Luana Carolina in a women’s flyweight preliminary bout Saturday at The O2 after a one-year layoff. Wood’s last time out was in March 2022 when she lost by first-round submission to now-UFC champion Alexa Grasso, bringing her losing streak to three.
Wood, 37, was considered the No. 1 contender to then-champion Valentina Shevchenko in early 2020, but an injury to Shevchenko plus the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic scrapped those plans. Wood instead took a fight and lost to Jennifer Maia rather than wait things out. Including that matchup, Wood (15-8 MMA, 7-8 UFC) has lost four of her past five bouts and is below .500 for the first time in her UFC tenure, which began in 2014.
