Mackenzie Dern Details fallout from her divorce ahead of UFC 295: ‘This whole fight is still paying my ex’

Mackenzie DernMackenzie Dern hopes that someday soon, she can look back and see all of the chaos behind her instead…

Mackenzie Dern

Mackenzie Dern hopes that someday soon, she can look back and see all of the chaos behind her instead of constantly surrounding her.

Ahead of her clash with Angela Hill in May, news broke that Dern was in the middle of a tumultuous divorce with her ex-husband that also included a custody battle for their daughter. By the time fight night rolled around, her divorce had been finalized, but as anyone who has gone through the process knows, it rarely ends with the paperwork.

“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” (h/t MMA Fighting).

Adding to the chaos ahead of her highly anticipated return to the Octagon on Saturday night was the closing of her gym. To compensate, Dern set up a private training facility in her home and spent some time training with former two-division UFC titleholder Henry Cejudo.

“RVCA closed so I basically made my own home gym,” Dern explained. “You just keep investing in your dream and hope that it works. I’m trying to make everything private at home because you’re just very vulnerable when everyone’s seeing your training. I’m a world champion in jiu-jitsu but people see me in the gym and I’m crying, I’m frustrated because I feel I should be better at something. I feel like I should be able to get it and I don’t get it. It’s not working.

“There’s injuries and there’s a ton of stuff that keeps going on and you’re like I just want to be able to train and get better. I don’t know. In the fight it comes out. It all works out.”

Mackenzie Dern Refuses to use her personal struggles as an excuse

Slowly becoming a master of the chaos, Mackenzie Dern decided to inject a new dynamic into her home.

“I got a new puppy — I think I even invent more problems, more chaos,” Dern said with a laugh. “I thrive on that, the craziness. The puppy and all these things. Getting used to splitting your daughter half of the time with you, half of the time with the dad and all these things. You’re learning so many new dynamics in your routine.

“My whole life when I was training to be a world champion in jiu-jitsu, my best times of being a world champion was when I had a routine and I had a schedule and you’re able to keep focused. I think that’s why it’s hard to be a mom and try to be a world champion, to be the champion in the UFC because you need to be consistent in your training. When you don’t feel you’re consistent in your day-to-day life, one day is this, one day is that, you’re like I just need to train. You just make it work.”

Dern did make it clear that she was by no means creating excuses for herself, recognizing that other fighters deal with these same personal issues all the time. In fact, her UFC 295 opponent, Jessica Andrade, revealed that she was also going through a divorce ahead of Saturday’s showdown.

“It definitely wasn’t easy but I understand that’s what everyone goes through,” Dern said. “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.”

Mackenzie Dern enters her fight with Andrade alternating wins and losses in her last four bouts. Overall she is 8-3 under the UFC banner and on the cusp of a potential strawweight title opportunity. With a big win over ‘Bate Estaca’ in Madison Square Garden, Dern’s next fight could very well be for UFC gold.

Mackenzie Dern books Octagon return against ex-Champion for UFC 295 in November at Madison Square Garden

Mackenzie Dern UFC 295 fight against Jessica Andrade in NovemberBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace, Mackenzie Dern has booked her return to the Octagon at UFC 295 later this year, drawing former undisputed strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade in November at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Dern, the current number eight ranked strawweight contender, has been sidelined from active competition since headlining UFC Vegas 73 back […]

Mackenzie Dern UFC 295 fight against Jessica Andrade in November

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace, Mackenzie Dern has booked her return to the Octagon at UFC 295 later this year, drawing former undisputed strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade in November at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Dern, the current number eight ranked strawweight contender, has been sidelined from active competition since headlining UFC Vegas 73 back in May, landing a decision win over veteran common-foe, Angela Hill in a headlining honors. The outing earned both Dern and Hill post-event Fight of the Night honors.

As for Andrade, the Brazilian former titleholder will make her whopping fifth Octagon walk of the year in her return at UFC 295 in November, attempting to snap a run of three consecutive loss, which was recently bookended by a guillotine choke submission loss to Tatiana Suarez at UFC Fight Night Nashville earlier this month. 

Mackenzie Dern books return against Jessica Andrade

News of Mackenzie Dern’s clash with the returning, Jessica Andrade was first confirmed during the broadcast of UFC 292 over the course of the weekend.

13-3 as a professional, decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace and submission grappler, Dern rebounded to the winner’s enclosure in her outing against Hill, having previously dropped a majority decision loss to Yan Xiaonan in a headlining clash.

Over the course of her Octagon tenure, Arizona native, Dern has racked up impressive wins over the likes of Amanda Cooper, Virna Jandiroba, Nina Nunes, as well as Tecia Torres to name a few. 

A former undisputed strawweight champion, Andrade landed divisional spoils with a stunning slam KO win over former two-time titleholder, Rose Namajunas back in 2019 in her native Brazil. 

UFC 295 takes place on November 11. from Madison Square Garden in New York City, with an undisputed heavyweight title fight between champion, Jon Jones, and former division gold holder, Stipe Miocic slated to take headlining honors. 

Who wins between Mackenzie Dern and Jessica Andrade at UFC 295?

Tatiana Suarez submits ex-Champion Jessica Andrade with wicked guillotine choke – UFC Nashville Highlights

Tatiana Suarez lands submission win over former champion Jessica Andrade UFC NashvilleTurning in her second consecutive guillotine choke win of the year, uber-talent, Tatiana Suarez has turned in her most high-profile career win to date, submitting former undisputed strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade with a second round guillotine choke in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night Nashville. Returning from a slew of debilitating injuries earlier this […]

Tatiana Suarez lands submission win over former champion Jessica Andrade UFC Nashville

Turning in her second consecutive guillotine choke win of the year, uber-talent, Tatiana Suarez has turned in her most high-profile career win to date, submitting former undisputed strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade with a second round guillotine choke in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night Nashville.

Returning from a slew of debilitating injuries earlier this year, Californian grappling talent, Suarez managed to return to the Octagon in triumphant fashion, submitting Montana De La Rosa back in February with another second round guillotine choke — earning a Performance of the Night bonus in a brief flyweight cameo.

And likely reinserting herself into the strawweight top-5 and title picture for the first time since a 2019 unanimous decision win over Nina Nunes, Suarez, who now moves to 11-0 as a professional, earned her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt with a spectacular second round guillotine choke win over Brazilian powerhouse and former division champion, Andrade.

Below, catch the highlights from Tatiana Suarez’s win over Jessica Andrade