UFC strawweight contender Mackenzie Dern has confirmed she will be competing at the prestigious ADCC submission wrestling world championships in 2024. Dern, a multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion, last competed at ADCC in 2017 and is excited for the opportunity to test her grappling skills against the new generation.
“I was really wanting to kind of not, like, come back full time jiu-jitsu or anything like that, but kind of just wanted to – I really felt like ADCC in 2015 (I) had won,” Dern said in an interview. “(had) Very similar grappling style to MMA, you know, no gi, kind of submission oriented…so I didn’t want to do like a super fight, and I kind of wanted to get back in with the new generation girls and see how I do with them.”
The ADCC world championships, widely considered the toughest no-gi grappling tournament, allows Dern to stay active on the grappling circuit while still focusing on her MMA career in the UFC. With the 2024 event taking place near her home state of Arizona, the timing seems perfect for Dern.
“It’s going to be in Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center over in Reno,” she said. “So yeah, I’m going to be at home.”
While her sights are set on ADCC for now, Dern also expressed interest in potentially being booked for one of the UFC’s big international fight nights later this year, having never fought outside of the United States for the promotion before.
“I would like to do the fight on an international fight week, hopefully maybe for Abu Dhabi, Bahrain,” Dern stated. “I think it gives me some good time from my last fight.”
The jiu-jitsu ace will look to rebuild after recent UFC failures, having lost three of her last four fights, as she prepares to return to the ADCC mats and face off with the best grapplers in the world once again.
