Mackenzie Dern just went through a “crazy” divorce.
The No. 7-ranked strawweight contender recently finalized the proceedings and plans to move forward with her life following some very serious accusations. Unfortunately, the drama that preceded her 2023 fight campaign left her in arrears.
And the money she’ll earn at UFC 295 on Nov. 11 in New York is already spoken for.
“I realized we always have problems,” Dern said during the UFC 295 media day. “Just the pressure. The last one I went through the divorce. The divorce is final but you don’t realize how much aftermath there is to it. Literally, this whole fight is still paying my ex. It’s crazy, I have to get punched in the face and you work so hard and you do all this and you have to like pay that much of something. Money’s something, I’ll fight here, I’ll get it, whatever. Winning or losing, everything’s going to be taken care of. I’ll make more [money] and stuff like that but it’s just problems.”
Dern, 30, fights former champion Jessica Andrade on the UFC 295 PPV main card.
“It definitely wasn’t easy but I understand that’s what everyone goes through,” Dern continued. “Everyone’s having problems. Everyone has injuries, we’re fighters. I think Jessica, she talked about she had a divorce, too. It’s kind of crazy the fans get to watch us let out all of our stress and everything on another person in a fight but that’s what we’re trained for. That’s what makes the victory more special.”
UFC CEO Dana White was “checking out” Dern at the beginning of her MMA career and signed the “little badass” back in early 2018. The jiu-jitsu phenom rebounded from a decision loss to Xiaonan Yan last fall to capture a judges’ nod over Angela Hill back in May. To date, Dern’s toughest opponent has been consistency, a trend she hopes to discontinue with a UFC 295 victory over Andrade.
To see who else is fighting at UFC 295 this weekend in New York click here.