In January 2020, Wood posted a tweet expressing interest in a hypothetical matchup a random Twitter user posted that tossed Wood and Grasso against one another. At the time, Grasso was still a strawweight but had just missed weight for a fight against Claudia Gadelha and issued a statement announcing her move to flyweight.
Wood hadn’t fought in about four months when she threw the idea out there. A couple years and many fights would pass until it came to fruition, but she still is just as interested as she was back then.
“At that time, I was just looking for a fight,” Wood told UFC.com. “I was throwing it all out there. She’s got an exciting style. She’s a great boxer. She’s also a strawweight coming up, so I think me and her are going to put on a great co-main event.”
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If anything, the time passed has increased Grasso’s stock as an opponent. Since moving to 125 pounds, Grasso looked sharp, tallying wins over Ji Yeon Kim and Maycee Barber. The win over the latter came more than a year ago, though, so she is also still looking to establish herself in the division.
Wood is eager to get things back on track against Grasso, as well. 2021 was a mixed bag for Wood. She opened the year with a strong, bounce-back victory over Jessica Eye on Fight Island, but a close, split decision loss to Lauren Murphy followed. After marrying longtime partner and head coach John Wood – thusly dropping “Calder” from her name – she fought Brazilian upstart Taila Santos. In the first round, Santos dropped her twice before submitting her late in the first round.