Mackenzie Dern made her mark in the UFC as a distinguished Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) practitioner. She has a lineage deeply rooted in BJJ excellence. Dern is the daughter of Wellington “Megaton” Dias, a renowned figure in the sport.
Entering the octagon with formidable BJJ skills, Dern’s opponents feared the prospect of grappling with her. Yet, her inadequacies in striking often led to setbacks in her match. Additionally, her wrestling proved to be a stumbling block and hindered her ability to dictate match on the ground. Nonetheless, Dern firmly advocates for BJJ as the ultimate self-defense tool for women.
She said: “I mean, it’s on the ground, imagine, even just the guard. If someone’s trying, I mean, in that position, you know, it’s like, ‘Okay, armbar.’ That’s like the best thing about Jiu-Jitsu is the element of surprise.”
Dern passionately advocates for BJJ as a crucial self-defense tool for women, emphasizing its efficacy particularly in ground encounters. Dern gave a hypothetical situation and used herself as an example. She may be an easy target for a possible r*pist or attacker since she is a 5’4″ blonde woman. But with easy techniques, even a tiny woman like herself could catch them in triangle chokes or armbars.
Despite her undeniable talent, Dern faces a current setback. She is grappling with a two-bout losing streak.
At UFC 298, she was defeated by Amanda Lemos by unanimous decision in her most recent bout. The original opponent for Lemos was Tatiana Suarez, but she was quickly replaced by Dern. Prior to that at UFC 295, she lost to Jessica Andrade by TKO for the first time in her MMA career.
In MMA, trash talk often serves as a strategic tool for building hype and intimidating opponents. The strategy was first used in mixed martial arts by Chael Sonnen, but Conor McGregor elevated it to a new level. Nonetheless, some competitors like Mackenzie Dern are known for never insulting their opponents.
During her interview with co-host Kyle Deever on the Coach and the Casual podcast, she was asked whether her nonexistent trash talk had cost her any chances. Although she didn’t think so, she did explain why she hadn’t used the strategy before.
Dern said: “It’s just in Jiu-Jitsu, it’s so hard, you know, so respectful, you know…It’s like, you beat the person one week, and the next week, and you’re at another open…you fight the same people so many times, so it’s like a win or lose doesn’t really matter…you can’t really trash talk because you’re going to probably fight them 10 more times, you know.”
