Outside Source
Mackenzie Dern has won her last two fight in the Octagon. | Getty/UFC
While the rest of the mixed martial arts community waited for Dana White to go live on Instagram with his big announcement last week, Mackenzie Dern wasn’t yet fully aware of the stakes involved in her fight against Virna Jandiroba at UFC 321.
“[UFC] were kind of talking about the interim belt, and that was maybe three weeks ago, four weeks ago,” Dern said on “The Ariel Helwani Show”. “They were talking about it, but weren’t sure if they were going to do it. Then [we found out], ‘OK, they’re going to do it, [so] we’ll wait until they announce it.’ And then I found out by Instagram that it was going to be for the actual belt when [UFC] Dana [White] announced it.
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“I texted [my manager] Tiki [Ghosn], ‘Wait, is it the real belt or the interim belt?’ [He said,] ‘Oh, it’s the real belt.’ So that was very recent, the change. We were happy with the interim belt — it’s still a belt and would be the next step to getting the [undisputed] belt. But the fact that it’s for the real belt definitely puts an extra happiness and gratefulness on it.”
Dern received the opportunity to vie for the undisputed 115-pound belt when Weili Zhang elected to vacate the title to challenge Valentina Shevchenko for flyweight gold at UFC 322 on Nov. 15. If Zhang’s move to 125 pounds proves to be short lived, Dern believes the Chinese standout will have an immediate title shot waiting for her at strawweight.
“I know Weili — if she ever wants to come back down, she’ll fight whoever has the belt next,” Dern said. “I think depending on how her fight with Valentina [goes], if it would be anything like Alexa [Grasso] and Valentina, a trilogy and all this stuff, I think it just kind of makes sense for the division [to vacate].
“She was so dominant in the strawweight division. Everyone they were throwing at her, she was just beating. Even if she wants to come back after this one fight with Valentina, I think that it would make sense.”
Dern Believes She Can Defeat Jandiroba Again
Dern already has history with her UFC 321 opponent, as she defeated Jandiroba via unanimous decision at UFC 256 in December 2020. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt has experienced her share of ups and downs since then, but she’ll enter the Oct. 25 matchup on the heels of back-to-back triumphs over Lupita Godinez and Amanda Ribas. The 37-year-old Jandiroba is on a five-bout winning streak within the Las Vegas-based promotion and is coming off a victory against former title challenger Xiaonan Yan at UFC 314.
Still, Dern is confident that she can best the Brazilian again.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that I can do it,” she said. “I know I can do it because it’s been done before. So the only question is if I can do it again, and can I [be] better focused on me getting better [for the rematch]? I know, for sure, she’s going to bring new stuff. Her team’s going to bring new stuff to the table. So I’ve just got to be prepared for that and fighting basically a different Virna — although we both know our strengths are grappling, but we’re both totally different fighters.
“I watched my fight with her last time and I was like, ‘Man, I was so petite.’ I didn’t really have any muscle. I was just kind of very girly-girl, and I’m way more athletic now and just able to grow the muscle and get a way more mature, athletic body to fight for the championship now.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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