UFC strawweight fighter Mackenzie Dern finally gets her revenge at the UFC Vegas after defeating longtime rival Amanda Ribas. The event took place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas and was a night to remember for many fighters.
The two fighters have had a rivalry that has spanned for over five years, with Dern losing their first bout in 2019 after failing to score a takedown. However, the fighter came prepared this around and took her opponent to the ground in the first few minutes. The two got into a grappling exchange, but Ribas had the upper hand and managed to remain in a dominant position but Dern continued to find an opening and peppered her Ribas with blows. The two continued the following rounds looking to score a hit, but Dern displayed impressive jiu-jitsu skills and managed to do a lot of damage while Ribas played defence for most part of the game.
In the third round, Dern saw an opening and reversed her position. She soon became in full mount and held on to Ribas’s arm to wrestle a submission. Her opponent finally tapped out in the dying minutes of the third round.
“I’m happy, I wanted to get my submission record higher,” Dern said about her latest victory. “We were able to get some takedowns. She’s such a tough fighter.
“From five years ago, to get this win was heavy on me. I’m happy to get that [loss] off and to get two wins in a row.”
“I just want to get another win in a row,” Dern said about what she wants next. “I would hope someone in front [of me in the rankings], but we’ll see.”
Many are eager to see Dern compete for the strawweight title after her impressive win, but Dern revealed she has other plans in mind. Zhang Weili will defend the strawweight title against Tatiana Suarez at UFC 312, and fans hope Dern will face whoever wins the fight. However, the UFC star says she’s not ready for the belt yet and would rather spend more time working on herself.
“I think I’m very hard on myself, and I always try to get better,” Dern said at the evening’s post-fight press conference. “Even when I have a great performance, I think I did so many things wrong. So I think it’s a lot of play messing in your head, so it can take your journey and maybe makes it a little longer. But I think in the end, it really helps you want to be the best fighter possible if you can really look back and have constructive criticism of yourself.
“My idea isn’t to go fight for the belt and then lose it fast. My idea is to get the belt, and I want to be a dominant champion, so I’m not in a rush to get there. I want to have good fights, and I want to make a statement.”
Although Dern doesn’t plan to compete anytime soon, she may be called on as a backup for the title fight. She has battled many top opponents and doubts if any will be willing to face her in a rematch.
However, she is set on defeating former opponent Jandiroba. Dern currently holds the number six weight class and plans to maintain this position for some time.
“I think definitely my name could be thrown in there if something happens,” Dern said. “They’ve called me on short notice before, like with Amanda Lemos; her fight before me was just for the title. So, I think definitely I could be thrown in there.
“If we would accept it or not, I don’t know, that’s something me and the team would have to go through. I definitely don’t want to accept something if we’re not ready and just have a bad performance, but I think my name’s definitely close there now.”
“None of them specific,” Dern said when asked which opponent she’d prefer to fight again. “I’m just thinking, my next fights are going to be ‘Dern 2,’ I’m going to be in all these rematches. Any of the girls, I think I’m going to train the best I can, no matter who comes.
“Maybe Virna again. I know Tatiana came out, and they kind of threw out maybe I would step in [to fight Jandiroba], but I don’t think that fight was really good for her at that time, but now that Tatiana’s going for the belt, maybe that’s something that she would want to do. But yeah, nothing specific.”
