Mackenzie Dern received some criticism from Dana White following her dominant win over Angela Hill last month.
Dern scored by far the most impressive win of her mixed martial arts career thus far, moving to 8-3 in the UFC with a 25-minute shellacking of strawweight mainstay Angela Hill. It was a perfect performance that saw Dern in complete control for five rounds. Mixing up her striking and world-class grappling, the photogenic BJJ specialist left Las Vegas with her hand raised via a decisive unanimous decision.
However, Dern revealed that Dana White had one very specific gripe regarding Mackenzie Dern’s otherwise spectacular outing.
“I went to talk to him, he told me how he liked the fight, talked to me about the knee,” Dern said during an appearance on the Believe You Me podcast. “He said ‘You could’ve knocked her out if you hit her more’…and I was like, what did I do? My first reaction was to take her to the ground and just grapple, so I still don’t know what that’s like to connect on someone get the knockout” (h/t MMA News).
An epic, 5-round battle between these two ladies earns your FOTM honors for May
@MackenzieDern @AngieOverkill | B2YB @ToyoTires pic.twitter.com/WCSQ7tWqy8
— UFC (@ufc) May 31, 2023
Mackenzie Dern Earned Her Fifth UFC Performance Bonus
Mackenzie Dern appeared to be on the cusp of a finish multiple times during her Fight Night headliner, at one point landing an absolutely brutal knee in the clinch that nearly put ‘Overkill’ away. To Hill’s credit, she continued to move and fight her way out of every situation that had fight-ending potential. In the end, Dern’s improved striking matched with her impeccable grappling game was too much for Hill to overcome.
The bout was given Fight of the Night honors and earned Mackenzie Dern her fifth $50,000 performance bonus in 11 fights with the promotion.
The win moved Dern into the No. 7 spot in the strawweight rankings and will likely tee her up for a top-five opponent in her next outing.