Tag: Mackenzie Dern

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?

Mackenzie Dern shared one complaint Dana White had with her dominant win over Angela Hill

Mackenzie DernMackenzie 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 […]

Mackenzie Dern

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).

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.

UFC star Paul Costa made light of Gabi Garcia’s domestic abuse allegations with inappropriate joke

Gabi GarciaWomen’s mixed martial artist Gabi Garcia has publicly accused her husband of domestic abuse. Garcia, an undefeated fighter and accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner, recently took to Instagram claiming that her husband, Bruno Almeida, had been physically abusive throughout their relationship. “The time has come. It’s time to be brave and tell everyone why I’ve been […]

Gabi Garcia

Women’s mixed martial artist Gabi Garcia has publicly accused her husband of domestic abuse.

Garcia, an undefeated fighter and accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner, recently took to Instagram claiming that her husband, Bruno Almeida, had been physically abusive throughout their relationship.

“The time has come. It’s time to be brave and tell everyone why I’ve been away for the past two years,” Garcia said. “They were the worst years of my life, but I’ll show all the details at the end of this week. I didn’t think this could ever happen. That someone could be so bad. A criminal. A person who has commited crimes before and after he was with me. A person who has money and asked for pension, my purses, my earrings. Asking for my house. Using the name Garcia.”

“Married, with a son and using my last name. A person who says she is a child of God, who went to my wedding and wrote ‘God bless you’ is still his lover,” Garcia added. “Because that guy won’t divorce me. Even with a restraining order and the Maria da Penha law (A Brazilian law created to protect women who were victim of domestic violence) by my side, he didn’t stop. There are 19 cases of fraud on my credit card, closed my accounts in three different banks. I would get home to no water, no power. He took the money from my payments.

“I had to go to court to prove that I’m the owner of my own house. He lied to his lawyer by saying that it was rented. He asked for my Chanel earrings, my purse collection, pension. He had people intimidating me. Job? He doesnt’ have one. He lives on allowance from his mother. I’m posting everything. We have to believe in the law. My parents have depression, I can’t leave my house. I still have to put a finish to some wars, though. I’ll tell my fans every single detail so I can help women who have been abused,” Garcia concluded.

Paulo Costa Makes Light of Gabi Garcia’s Horrifying Situation

After pouring her heart out on social media, fans and fighters rallied around Gabi Garcia and showed their support for the Brazilian combat sports icon. Unfortunately, not everyone had something nice to say. Enter Paulo Costa, the UFC’s self-appointed comedian. Costa has developed a reputation over the last year for taking clever cracks at his co-workers. For the most part, they are genuinely humorous and relatively light-hearted, but ‘The Eraser’ appears to have stepped over the line this time.

In response to Gabi Garcia’s story, Costa tweeted out an image of the especially jacked Brazilian and asked, “Who the hell was her husband, Thanos?”

Gabi Garcia primarily competed under the RIZIN banner in Japan but she has been absent from the MMA scene since 2018 after going 6-0 to kick off her career. Garcia has remained active in submission grappling, most recently competing at the ADCC world championships last year.

Sadly, Gabi Garcia is the second female fighter to come out about the abuse she suffered at the hands of a man she once loved and trusted. Rising contender Mackenzie Dern also opened up about her experience with domestic violence following a decisive win over Angela Hill last month.

UFC star Mackenzie Dern reveals embattled relationship with estranged husband, domestic abuse accusation

Mackenzie Dern UFC embattled relationship with husband domestic abuse accusationsMackenzie Dern opened up about the ongoing battle with her estranged husband, Wesley Santos, during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. Mackenzie Dern is fresh off a big win over Angela Hill at UFC Vegas 73. Through the 25-minute affair, Dern delivered a dominant performance that moved her to the No. 7 […]

Mackenzie Dern UFC embattled relationship with husband domestic abuse accusations

Mackenzie Dern opened up about the ongoing battle with her estranged husband, Wesley Santos, during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.

Mackenzie Dern is fresh off a big win over Angela Hill at UFC Vegas 73. Through the 25-minute affair, Dern delivered a dominant performance that moved her to the No. 7 spot in the strawweight rankings. She also pocketed a well-deserved $50,000 bonus for her efforts, but as it turns out, that was not the only fight Mackenzie Dern was in the midst of.

Appearing on Wednesday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Mackenzie Dern shared details of the fractured relationship she eluded to during her post-fight interview earlier this month.

“So I feel like I’ve been having to defend myself this whole time for things that I never thought I’d have to defend myself for,” she said, later adding, “I was in a situation in my relationship where I couldn’t even defend myself, because I was getting, like, threatened that if I did anything, I’d be talking to the police and I could lose my daughter.

“So, I stayed in my relationship because I believed in the family, and I believe that that’s what God wanted and stuff. But there’s a certain point where you try, try, and try, and things don’t change, and it just keeps getting worse and worse. And then, like I was saying, I wasn’t even able to defend myself. Like, police were getting called to the house. It was just getting out of control, and going through that in front of your daughter, you don’t want your daughter to witness that.”

Santos Has Continually Denied Mackenzie Dern’s Domestic Violence Accusations

Wesley Santos vehemently denied Mackenzie Dern’s allegations in a prepared statement.

“I am disappointed that Mackenzie chose to make public statements about our divorce, especially since it involves the custody of our beautiful daughter, Moa,” he wrote. “Because we are in the middle of legal proceedings, I cannot comment on anything at this time, except to say that Mackenzie’s statements are false and defamatory.”

A month before her return to the Octagon, court documents were filed with both making domestic abuse claims as the custody battle over their three-year-old daughter, Moa, turned ugly. Dern accused Santos of repeated physical and emotional abuse, revealing that he had allegedly slammed a door on her legs whilst dragging her into their home. Dern filed a petition for a restraining order, citing domestic violence. Dern included videos showing an incident where Santos is said to have “threw my phone, water bottles, pillows, and bedding while harassing/intimidating me verbally,” according to Dern.

Santos has denied every accusation of abuse and countered Dern’s claim, stating that he was the victim of abuse. Santo also provided pictures and a video of himself with a bloody nose, the result of a punch delivered by Dern during an altercation outside of a restaurant. Santos also accused Dern of physically assaulting their daughter.

“I never physically attacked Mackenzie, she is an MMA fighter,” Santos wrote in a court filing. “I would never even try to get physical with her. I would have no chance.”

Dern and Santo will be back in court next month to rule on the restraining order filed by Dern last month and to present a final custody agreement.

Video – Michael Bisping chokes out Jackass star Steve-O inside the Octagon after UFC Vegas 73

Michael BispingMichael Bisping scored his own finish at UFC Vegas 73 on Saturday night. The former UFC middleweight champion was on hand for what turned out to be a spectacular night of fights at The APEX in Las Vegas. In the main event of the evening, Mackenzie Dern delivered a show-stealing performance against the always-game Angela […]

Michael Bisping

Michael Bisping scored his own finish at UFC Vegas 73 on Saturday night.

The former UFC middleweight champion was on hand for what turned out to be a spectacular night of fights at The APEX in Las Vegas. In the main event of the evening, Mackenzie Dern delivered a show-stealing performance against the always-game Angela Hill, but the action didn’t stop there. Following the broadcast, Michael Bisping was called into the Octagon to join Jackass star Steve-O.

With one-time middleweight title challenger Marvin Vettori by his side, ‘The Count’ was tasked with choking out Steve-O inside the cage, a wish ‘The Count’ was more than happy to grant. In the video clip, which you can see below, Michael Bisping sends the professional(?) stuntman to la-la land in a matter of seconds.

Of course, Steve-O comes to moments later and appears to be genuinely excited by the feeling of lost consciousness.

Once he got the Jackass star back to his feet, Michael Bisping turned his attention toward the camera where he congratulated the night’s big winner. “Mackenzie Dern got the job done tonight. Congratulations to her. Great striking and jiu-jitsu as always,” Bisping said. With the victory, the No. 8 ranked strawweight moved to 8-3 inside the Octagon. She is just 2-2 in her last four, but those losses came against two of the best in the division, Marina Rodriguez and Yan Xiaonan.

Saturday was a big night for women’s mixed martial arts as four fighters saw their hands raised, including perennial contender Karolina Kowalkiewicz. The Polish Princess scored her third-straight win as she continued a career renaissance, besting streaking standout Vanessa Demopoulos. Elsewhere, Natalia Silva delivered a brilliant performance against Victoria Leonardo while Loopy Godinez made it two in a row against Emily Ducote.

Dern vs. Hill was appropriately dubbed Fight of the Night, earning both competitors a $50,000 bonus for their effort.