Mackenzie Dern is explaining what she feels will happen in the main event of UFC 277. The upcoming UFC bantamweight title fight between champion Julianna Peña and former champ Amanda Nunes has people talking. The nature of the first fight, with Peña co…
Mackenzie Dern is explaining what she feels will happen in the main event of UFC 277. The upcoming UFC bantamweight title fight between champion Julianna Peña and former champ Amanda Nunes has people talking. The nature of the first fight, with Peña coming in as such an underdog and winning shocked many. This time around,…
Mackenzie Dern gives her take on the UFC strawweight GOAT conversation. Mackenzie Dern is making her way up the UFC strawweight rankings. She has now had nine fights in the UFC and she is showing the fans that she is not just a threat on the ground, bu…
Mackenzie Dern gives her take on the UFC strawweight GOAT conversation. Mackenzie Dern is making her way up the UFC strawweight rankings. She has now had nine fights in the UFC and she is showing the fans that she is not just a threat on the ground, but she is a proven winner. She is…
Two rather high-profile welterweight and strawweight pairings are set for the UFC’s upcoming schedule of fights in the month of October. Firstly, a matchup between the surging Chicago wrestling staple, Bella Muhammad, and the promotional-perfect Roufusport mainstay, Sean Brady has been added to a UFC 281 pay-per-view event on October 22. from the Etihad Arena […]
Two rather high-profile welterweight and strawweight pairings are set for the UFC’s upcoming schedule of fights in the month of October.
Firstly, a matchup between the surging Chicago wrestling staple, Bella Muhammad, and the promotional-perfect Roufusport mainstay, Sean Brady has been added to a UFC 281 pay-per-view event on October 22. from the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE. ESPN MMA reporter, Brett Okamoto was first to report the news of Muhammad’s return against Brady in October.
The UFC books a high-stakes strawweight headliner to main event an October 1. event
As for the beginning of the month, a high-stakes, potential strawweight title-eliminator between Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace, Mackenzie Dern, and the Liaoning native, Yan Xiaonan is scheduled to headline a UFC Fight Night event on October 1. to kick off the month’s proceedings for the organization.
Confirming the headlining clash on their official Twitter account, Paradigm Sports Management confirmed Dern’s return against Xiaonan on October 1.
“It’s official. Mackenzie Dern and Yan Xiaonan will meet in a strawweight main event on October 1.”
Enjoying an impressive three-fight winning run, Muhammad headlined UFC Vegas 51 back in April, earning the #5 rank in the official welterweight pile with a rematch, unanimous decision win over Vicente Luque.
In a pair of prior victories against former title challengers prior to avenging his win against Luque, Muhammad handed one-sided unanimous decision losses to both Stephen Thompson, and Demian Maia.
As for Brady, the #9 ranked Philadelphia native boasts a 15-0 professional record, most recently besting Michael Chiesa with a unanimous decision triumph at UFC Vegas 43 last time out.
Calling for an interim title fight recently at the strawweight limit, Dern returned to winning ways after a loss to Marina Rodriguez, defeating division staple, Tecia Torres with a split judging success at UFC 273 back in April.
For Xioanan, the Chinese contender is tasked with rebounding from a recent pair of losses to the aforenoted common-foe, Rodriguez, as well as a ground strikes knockout defeat to inaugural strawweight champion and current division titleholder, Carla Esparza.
Top-five women’s strawweights Mackenzie Dern and Yan Xiaonan will clash in the main event of a UFC Fight Night on October 1. The location of the matchup, which was first reported by ESPN, and the remainder of the fight card are yet to be determin…
Top-five women’s strawweights Mackenzie Dern and Yan Xiaonan will clash in the main event of a UFC Fight Night on October 1. The location of the matchup, which was first reported by ESPN, and the remainder of the fight card are yet to be determined. Dern will go into the fight with renewed confidence after…
Mackenzie Dern is looking to fight Rose Namajunas, but she may not be available for a while. The UFC strawweight division has a new champion at the helm. Carla Esparza has recently defeated former champ Rose Namajunas at UFC 274, and with that win the …
Mackenzie Dern is looking to fight Rose Namajunas, but she may not be available for a while. The UFC strawweight division has a new champion at the helm. Carla Esparza has recently defeated former champ Rose Namajunas at UFC 274, and with that win the division has been shaken up. For the other fighters in…
Mackenzie Dern revealed in an exclusive interview with MMA News that she suffered a knee injury before her main event loss to Marina Rodriguez. Dern went on to lose to Rodriguez in her first career UFC main event at UFC Vegas 39 last October via a unanimous decision. She was unable to deal with Rodriguez’s…
Mackenzie Dern revealed in an exclusive interview with MMA News that she suffered a knee injury before her main event loss to Marina Rodriguez.
Dern went on to lose to Rodriguez in her first career UFC main event at UFC Vegas 39 last October via a unanimous decision. She was unable to deal with Rodriguez’s boxing or get the fight to the ground by using her signature Jiu-Jitsu.
Dern remains one of the top UFC strawweight prospects heading into her 2022 debut against Tecia Torres at UFC 273. However, it was a hard road back to full health following the knee injury before her fight with Rodriguez.
“Yeah, I hurt it on the last sparring before my fight with Marina on Friday [of fight week],” Dern said. “It was more during the fight week, so during fight week it just blew up and it was huge. I couldn’t really do anything, I couldn’t train during fight week, I couldn’t move around too much, I couldn’t put pressure on my knee or anything like that. In the fight, I didn’t feel it or anything like that. Marina did a couple of kicks and it was in the back of my head. She didn’t know about it or anything like that.
“I felt good, I had trained hard and everything like that. But it was a little distraction. All of these things are little distractions and you just gotta learn to block it all out.”
Dern went on to reveal that she underwent knee surgery following the fight with Rodriguez and made a full recovery ahead of this fight camp.
Before the loss to Rodriguez, Dern had won four straight over the likes of Nina Nunes and Virna Jandiroba. She debuted in the UFC back at UFC 222 following successful stints in LFA and Invicta FC.
Dern will look to get back into the strawweight title picture with a win over Torres at UFC 273. Her grappling is arguably the best in the strawweight division and she’s proven to be a matchup nightmare for most contenders.
What is your prediction for Mackenzie Dern vs. Tecia Torres?