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Mackenzie Dern held off Virna Jandiroba in the UFC 321 co-main event. | Getty/UFC
With Weili Zhang pursuing championship dreams at 125 pounds next month, the strawweight division feels wide open — even with a newly-crowned champion.
Mackenzie Dern captured the vacant 115-pound title on Saturday night, as she outdueled Virna Jandiroba over five rounds to earn a unanimous decision triumph in the UFC 321 co-main event at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. While Dern has won three straight bouts in the Octagon, she also has head-to-head losses against a couple women ranked below her. Although the Brazilian jiu-jitsu standout was savoring the moment on Saturday, she is also well aware that the rest of the division will be gunning for her in the near future.
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“I feel a little sore, but I feel amazing. I think we let it all out there, we really gave all our best to try and get the fight,” Dern said at the UFC 321 post-fight press conference. “But yeah, it’s like a dream come true, but I don’t know, every time I reach a goal, I always make a new one. So, I’m already thinking about getting back in the gym, getting better, and I know I have a huge target on my back now, so I want to make sure I’m ready for what’s coming next.”
Dern Sets Sights on Future Foes for Title Defense
If Zhang defeats Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 322, the Chinese standout might remain at flyweight for the foreseeable future. If she loses, “Magnum” could return to the division where she recently reigned.
While Dern acknowledged the possibility of Zhang’s return, she also has another opponent in mind for her a future title defense.
“I don’t know how much say I have now being a champion,” Dern said. “I don’t know how much my word and my decisions get into play. But I’m here to defend it, so whoever gets sent to me, I’ll be ready for. I don’t know if Weili [will come back], but I would definitely like to fight Tatiana [Suarez]. Maybe she gets one more fight in. I want to have a couple more fights with some grapplers.”
Dern admitted that she wanted to make a more definitive statement in her championship victory, but Jandiroba proved to be a difficult out over the course of the 25-minute encounter.
“Not that I wasn’t confident, I felt like I did everything I could do with the fight but it’s the judges. I felt like I could win, I felt like the fight could be mine, but I wanted to get a knockout and I wanted to be a champion with a submission or a knockout so no one could say anything,” she said.
“With MMA and the critics and the fans, it’s always going to be like that. If you leave it for the judges’ decision, it could go either way, you never know.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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