Joanne Calderwood out of UFC 291 fight with Priscilla Cachoiera, Miranda Maverick steps up

UFC vet Joanne Wood on Thursday announced she won’t fight Priscilla Cachoiera at UFC 291.

Wood wrote on Instagram “it was out of my control” and said the bout could have served as her official retirement before the bad news. Multiple people with knowledge of the situation, who asked for anonymity because the news was not public, confirmed Wood’s withdrawal to MMA Fighting.

Those people also confirmed that verbal agreements are in place for Miranda Maverick to replace Wood at the July 29 pay-per-view event at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

Gutted to find out that I won’t be fighting July 29th,” Wood wrote. “It is what it is and im going to try not dwell on this as it was out of my control. I invested and done everything I could and was ready for what was maybe going to be my last fight. I loved the extra altitude training that I went all in on to make sure I was best prepared and was feeling great with no injuries. If only fight camps went on your record (and you got paid for them ) I’m pretty sure I’m in the triple digits by now.”

Wood most recently appeared in the octagon at UFC 286, winning a split decision over Luana Carolina. The performance put her back on the right foot after a three-fight skid that included back-to-back rear-naked choke losses to current champ Alexa Grasso and Taila Santos.

Cachoiera is currently on a two-fight winning streak, most recently stopping Ariane Lipski at UFC San Diego.

Maverick most recently appeared in the octagon at UFC 289, where she was outpointed by Jasmine Jasudavicius to snap a two-fight winning streak.

UFC 291 is headlined by a “BMF” title fight between Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier. It’s the lightweights second fight after a “Fight of the Year” candidate in their previous meeting.