Mackenzie Dern’s last fight didn’t go her way.
UFC 295 was a new experience for the Strawweight jiu-jitsu wizard in November 2023. Unfortunately for Dern, that experience came in the form of her first career technical knockout loss (punches) at the hands of former champion, Jessica Andrade (watch highlights).
No stranger to criticism as she’s alternated wins and losses in her last five outings to go 2-3 (13-4 overall), Dern is no longer bothered by the noise online. However, once she got back home after the loss, she booted up her fight to see what went wrong. It was the commentary from Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier that caught her off guard.
“When I heard the commentary like Joe Rogan, D.C., and stuff, that for me, that was — I felt embarrassed. I felt bad,” Dern told Morning Kombat. “I was like dang. How did I just fight Angela Hill in May with like the best performance and now they’re saying I look like a fricken high school girl brawling and stuff like that.
“For me, they’re the kind of critics that can influence a lot of people with what they say commentating,” she continued. “Man, I can’t believe they said that about me. I looked like that?! Then I started remembering, well, the same way they said good stuff about me they’ve said bad. It goes back and forth. It’s their job, they’re going to commentate no matter what. I still love them and everything like that. So, it wasn’t too bad. Just that first moment I watched the fight I was crying like this is so embarrassing, oh my gosh.”
Dern, 30, gets the opportunity to right the wrongs of her loss as she took a short-notice bout with the most recent Strawweight title challenger, Amanda Lemos. The pair will collide at UFC 298 in Anaheim, California at the Honda Center this weekend (Sat., Feb. 17, 2024).
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 298 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 298: “Volkanovski vs. Topuria” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.