Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Strawweight Mackenzie Dern made some serious claims against her ex-coach Juan Gomez.
Mackenzie Dern just improved her record to 9-1 after beating Randa Markos by submission at this weekend’s UFC Vegas 11. However, to get the win Dern had to endure a less than ideal training camp.
Reportedly Juan Gomez and Mackenzie’s husband, pro surfer Wesley Santos, got into a fight in the middle of Dern’s camp. After that happened Dern decided it was time to change gyms and she went to train under Jason Parillo.
However, Dern tells Ag Fight that’s not where things ended with Gomez. In the interview, Dern alleged that she had been receiving threats from Gomez during the entire fight week. Although nothing more serious ever happened to Dern or Santos again, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt said she is just glad to have left Gomez behind for good.
“It was the best thing that ever happened. I got a coach that was on a whole other level. I wish this could have happened sooner. My former coach is the biggest liar I know. He says he has over 40, 50 fights, but I could not find anything on Google. The only thing related to him on Google is that he got into a fight with my husband, he assaulted my husband. I didn’t want to talk about this before, but now that I won, I can talk about it.”
“He spent the entire week sending me texts, threatening me and my husband.” Dern continued. “He called me a bitch, a traitor. He made fake accounts. At the same time, he was giving interviews saying he likes me, saying we know the reason behind the fight. We have no idea. We only want to stay away from Juan Gomez.”
Despite the altercations, Dern said she is willing to let bygones be bygones if Gomez stops harassing her and Santos. However, should the texts keep on coming, Dern says she will have no choice but to expose supposed proof of his behavior.
“He can call me a liar, but I have all the proof. If he keeps threatening me and my family, we’ll show it to the world. I hope he stops it, because I have no problem showing what happened. I didn’t want to sue because it can get really bad for him, but if he keeps threatening us, and saying stuff about the next time we’re in Hawaii, about how he has connections there.”
“I have a 15-month old baby girl.” Dern said. “My husband is a surfer, he has never done harm to anyone. I’m a fighter, I’m only aggressive in the Octagon. We don’t want to harm anyone, but I hope he backs off. Things can get pretty ugly if keeps up the threats and calling us names on social media.”
Before the win over Markos, Dern (9-1) scored a kneebar submission win over Hannah Cifers, back in May. Her last and sole loss happened in October 2019, when she dropped a unanimous decision to fellow rising prospect Amanda Ribas.