Tag: WMMA

Mackenzie Dern Addresses Huge Weight Miss Before UFC 224

Mackenzie Dern has explained why she missed weight for her fight at UFC 224.

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Mackenzie Dern has addressed missing weight for her bout at last night’s (Sat., May 12, 2018) UFC 224 from Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It was the big news on Friday and a lot of people criticized her for doing so as it was a bad weight cut. Dern missed weight by weighing in at 123 pounds for the fight that was supposed to take place in the strawweight (116 pounds max.) division.

Her opponent at the show, Amanda Cooper, did make weight and criticized her for not making weight. As seen on the main card of UFC 224 Dern picked up a first-round submission win over Cooper. The popular but now controversial prospect, who holds a 7-0 record in professional MMA, made her promotional debut against Ashley Yoder at UFC 222, where she scored a split decision win.

After the fight, Dern addressed missing weight by talking to the media who attended this latest pay-per-view event for the promotion. In terms of what happened to make her miss weight so egregiously, she thinks it all starts with her last fight that took place a few months ago.

“I’m ashamed of that,” Dern said at the UFC 224 post-fight press conference (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “I don’t want that to happen again. I can tell you 10,000 excuses, but I really believe that what happened with my weight is way back months ago in my last fight,” Dern said. “I think I need to get my diet right and the fact I was able to do it before, I thought I knew what I was doing. A lot of things have been happening. It’s not an excuse, missed flights and a lot of things happened and I just kept going and going.”

“On Thursday night, i was a bit nervous and I talked to my manager with everyone and I said ‘this is rough I don’t know how this is going to go tomorrow let’s see’” Dern said. “But on Friday I woke up at 6 a.m., I went to the sauna, we were trying and trying, my mind was fine, I was conscious, but there was a point where the weight wasn’t going away any more. The commission was already there and when 9 o’clock came, the weigh-ins were from 9-11 I was there for two hours and I only lost 500 grams and they said you’re not going to make weight, so then they were looking to make catchweight. I tried my hardest, it wasn’t my decision to stop, but the commission and my manager and everyone made the decision.”

“I felt that even if I won, that people would say it is because of my weight,” Dern said. “I didn’t think about it, the only thing I thought is that I’m going to go out there and do my best. I think what helped the most is that I fought in Brazil. I think if I fought anywhere, Vegas or another place, I would have felt it more. But I knew that fighting here in Brazil, representing Brazil, I know how Brazilians support their athletes in any form, regardless of anything. The people support me either way.”

Dern did make it clear that she plans on never letting this happen again, and a way of making sure it does not is to go to the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“My manager said the UFC wants me to move up in weight. I believe that’s what they want,” Dern said. “On Friday, [UFC matchmaker] Mick [Maynard] called me and said we have an institute here in Vegas, and we’re going to invest in you, we want you here, we’re going to work with you, so I said OK I’m going to work for you guys. I can’t lose that opportunity to get all that out from this organization which is so big and help me make weight. They told me even without a fight, they’re going to make me make weight and they’re going to stay on me, but that’s what I need. Not that it’s not important I believe in what they’re offering to me. I’m going to take their help. “

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Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Bobby Cooper Full Fight Video Highlights

Watch Mackenzie Dern submit Amanda Bobby Cooper at UFC 224 here:

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Last night’s (Sat., May 12, 2018) UFC 224 from the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, may have featured a title bout between Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington in the main event, but it’s safe to say much of the attention was on hyped prospect Mackenzie Dern and her latest scale fail.

After she missed weight by a monstrous seven pounds, Dern was expectedly raked over the coals by her opponent Amanda Bobby Cooper and the rest of MMA social media.

That only increased the pressure on Dern to win and win big in the birthplace of her family heritage, and she did just that in a quick, one-sided victory using both of her developing MMA skillsets. Cooper was more known for her striking skill than Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion Dern, but ‘ABC’ was unable to mount any offense.

And while it was thought Dern would win the fight on the mat and she ultimately did, she also showed some increasing stand-up by rocking her opponent with a huge looping shot early on, opening the door for a tight, fight-ending rear-naked choke in the first round.

Watch the highlights of Dern’s second UFC win right here:

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Amanda Nunes Reacts To Raquel Pennington’s Corner Failing To Save Her

Amanda Nunes sounded off on Raquel Pennington’s corner failing to save her at #UFC224:

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Although UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes scored a third straight title defense in dominant fashion over Raquel Pennington (watch full highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., May 12, 2018) UFC 224 from Rio, it didn’t come without some controversy.

That controversy stemmed from the fact that Pennington had told her corner that she was ‘done’ and didn’t want to fight anymore after it appeared Nunes had broken her nose with some big knees in the fourth round of a sustained beating from the champion.

She was instead sent out to get finished in one of the bloodier scenes witnessed in recent memory following her cornerman Jason Kutz’s refusal to let her stop:

“No, no, no, girl,” Kutz said. “Don’t go out like this. C’mon, girl. I know it hurts. Let’s power through this. Let’s power through this and believe. Change your mindset. Let’s throw everything we got. We’ll recover later. Throw everything we got.”

Jason Silva for USA TODAY Sports

At the UFC 224 post-fight press conference, Nunes addressed the situation after only finding out about it when her partner Nina Ansaroff told her about the fight. Speaking through an interpreter via MMAjunkie, Nunes gave her view that after Pennington was sent to the hospital, it could have been avoided as her cornerman had failed her:

“It’s sad. (My girlfriend) Nina (Ansaroff) told me. I didn’t even know. Nina told me in the locker room. It’s sad because you could avoid something. She went to the hospital. It might be a bad injury for her to go to the hospital. I already asked Nina to text her – if she needs anything I’m here. It’s sad.

“If she didn’t have the right conditioning to fight then the coach should have thrown in the towel for sure. I think my coach wouldn’t let me go through that. It’s sad. Everyone must be saying a lot of bad things about him on social media, but I really think she needs to surround herself with people who want the best for her so she can really evolve for her next fights. Unfortunately, tonight (the cornerman) failed.”

Conditioning certainly may have been an issue for Pennington after a year-and-a-half off and three surgeries, yet it seemed like the never-ending beatdown from Nunes, including the broken nose, was the reason Pennington was ready to quit.

If she was admittedly at that point, her corner should have stopped the fight, a view many have taken online and one that Nunes fully believes herself. To the champ, the relationship with a fighter and cornerman is a friendship where one has to look for the other’s safety, so she hoped Pennington would be able to surround herself with people who have her best interests in mind going forward:

“He should have listened to her at that moment,” Nunes said. “It’s important to have that friendship with your coach and for the coach to understand the athlete. I think that’s why I bond so well with my coaches and it’s working out. I hope that right now, going forward, she can be with people that really understand. People that are with her 100 percent.”

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Video: Raquel Pennington Says ‘She’s Done,’ But Corner Sends Her Out To Get Finished

Many think Raquel Pennington’s corner should have thrown in the towel. Watch and decide for yourself:

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Raquel Pennington was battered and bloodied by Amanda Nunes (watch highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., May 12, 2018) UFC 224 from the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Following three surgeries and a layoff that spanned 18 months, Pennington returned for the tough challenge of fighting the most dominant woman in her weight class, and even though she held her own, the nonstop attack of Nunes was clearly too much for “Rocky” to handle.

That became apparent in the fourth round when Nunes began to land a torrent of knees that opened Pennington up and broke her nose after battering her leg with low kicks early in the bout. The damage was so great that Pennington actually told her corner that she ‘was done’ in between the fourth and fifth rounds in a video via BT Sport UFC:

“I’m done. I want to be done.”

Pennington then appeared to argue with her team for a second before listening to their words. However, Pennington’s cornerman Jason Kutz wasn’t having it, urging her to fight on (via MMAjunkie):

“No, no, no, girl,” Kutz said. “Don’t go out like this. C’mon, girl. I know it hurts. Let’s power through this. Let’s power through this and believe. Change your mindset. Let’s throw everything we got. We’ll recover later. Throw everything we got.”

Pennington ultimately went out for the fifth round, absorbing a ton of unnecessary damage when Nunes destroyed her nose to end the fight with the challenger in a bloody mess. Her cornerman instantly received much criticism for his decision to not listen to her wish to stop competing and taking more damage.

What did you think? Should Pennington’s cornerman have stopped the fight right when she asked him?

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Amanda Nunes vs. Raquel Pennington Full Fight Video Highlights

Watch Amanda Nunes dominate Raquel Pennington via TKO at #UFC224:

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UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes secured her third title defense by battering Raquel Pennington in a fifth-round TKO stoppage in the main event of last night’s (Sat., May 12, 2018) UFC 224 from Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Pennington certainly had her moments with a few crisp strikes and a strong takedown, yet the advantage of the champion was clear from the outset when she dropped ‘Rocky’ with the very first strike of the bout, a low leg kick. ‘The Lioness’ maintained a nonstop pace of relentless pressure from there, pushing Pennington against the fence with a rapid, athletic arsenal of low kicks, punches, and knees.

Nunes appeared well on her way to winning every round of the five-round title affair, but she ultimately ended it before that when she took Pennington to the ground and opened up her already badly broken nose with an elbow, resulting in a brutal TKO and a river of blood perhaps unnecessarily flowing from the challenger.

The manner of the finish perhaps could have been avoided as Pennington said she was ‘done’ in between the fourth and fifth rounds, to which her corner urged to fight on, but that’s a different story to discuss in the aftermath of the action-packed UFC 224.

For now, watch the highlights of Nunes’ latest impressive victory right here:

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Is It Already Time For Mackenzie Dern To Move Up?

Is may already be time for Mackenzie Dern to move up to women’s flyweight.

The post Is It Already Time For Mackenzie Dern To Move Up? appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Yesterday (Fri., May 11, 2018) the MMA world was entranced with Mackenzie Dern’s egregious weight miss for her scheduled bout with Amanda Cooper at tonight’s UFC 224 from Rio de Janeiro.

It wasn’t so much that the miss itself was surprising; Dern had missed weight twice before in her six-fight MMA career.

No, it was the sheer amount – seven pounds – by which she missed that prompted Cooper to call her out and had the Internet in full-on pitchfork mode, and based on Dern’s ‘it is what it is’ attitude, it’s hard to blame them in this specific instance. By the time Cooper snubbed Dern during their intense staredowns during the ceremonial weigh-ins yesterday afternoon, no one was surprised or offended that “ABC” did so.

You may ask why it’s such a big deal, as UFC fighters miss weight all the time to the point it’s a seemingly weekly occurrence during early weigh-ins for each respective card. True, it is – yet Dern’s repeated issues for making weight have now seen her go from making the strawweight non-title fight limit of 116 pounds for her first UFC bout in March to missing it by almost a full weight class for her second may reveal some larger issues at play here.

Dern missed weight for both her second and third MMA bouts against Montana Stewart and Katherine Roy, and her fourth, a submission win over Mandy Polk in LFA last October, was contested at a catchweight bout of 120 pounds. That was a nice concession made by the promotion for Dern in order to retain the hype she brings, but it’s not going to be one made every time she steps into the octagon.

The weight issues were bad enough, yet Dern’s recent “request to leave” Arizona’s MMA Lab, the gym where she got her start in MMA, by head coach John Crouch because of so-called commitment issues suggest Dern may not have all of her mental capacity in the fight game. In fact, she’s admitted as much, declaring that she doesn’t want to be in the gym training every day and would rather balance that with going to the beach and partying in clubs like a normal 25-year-old woman.

Understandable for sure, but those two things don’t really mix with a top-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion rising up the fulfill the almost unattainable hype that’s been heaped onto Dern as the “next Ronda Rousey” of female MMA ever since she began her pro fight career in July 2016. Add that to the already monstrous pressure of remaining unbeaten due to her accomplished BJJ accolades, and we have a hype machine that may be fighting itself at all turns.

There’s an easy fix to all this, however.

As we’ve seen with current UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, moving up to a more natural class can work wonders for a career.

Cyborg was forced to make absolutely ridiculous cuts to 140-pound catchweight bouts in her early UFC run while there was still an outside possibility she could still fight Ronda Rousey at 135 pounds; the fact that it almost got her killed was well-documented. That nonsense stopped shortly thereafter, and despite still cutting a large amount of weight to make 145, Cyborg has since gone to win the title and defend it while becoming a bankable star for the UFC during a time they need them most.

If Dern is to live up to her potential, it’s probably time for her to do the same, and there couldn’t be a better time to make the change. The UFC just instituted a women’s 125-pound division that is struggling to get off the ground as champion Nicco Montano drags her feet on a title bout with former bantamweight contender Valentina Shevchenko, so injecting Dern into that mix would give the division the instant shot in the arm it badly needs.

Cooper criticized her for not being professional, and while the huge miss made her look bad yesterday, it’s the UFC and the athletic commissions sanctioning Dern’s fights that will begin to look silly if they continue booking her and letting her fight at strawweight when she comes in so heavy.

The body shaming, Internet hate, and overall disgusting backlash is no doubt unnecessary from fans who may or may not know what it’s like to cut a drastic amount of weight – and most certainly don’t know what it’s like to carry the hype and pressure Dern does, but we can’t say that she didn’t open herself up to it.

She also made it worse on herself by admitting she didn’t want to train every day after the coach at her inaugural MMA gym asked her to leave because she wasn’t devoted enough. So aside from missing weight and looking foolish that way, Dern could also start to appear entitled, undedicated, and simply not grateful for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity she’s both worked hard for and been granted by the UFC’s hype machine.

We don’t know what Dern has done to get here on a personal level, and we don’t know how hard it is to maintain the level of success that’s expected of her. Few truly do or have in the still-growing sport of women’s MMA.

But that’s why it’s a shame to see her seemingly not respect the opportunity she has.

Thankfully, there’s a quick fix. Now it’s up to her to make it.

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