UFC 273 will feature a pivotal match-up in the women’s strawweight division when Mackenzie Dern takes on Tecia Torres this April. Dern sat down and spoke with Cageside Press ahead of her return to action next month.
“This camp is going hard, the weekends it’s just try to recover as much as you can for the next week ahead of me,” Mackenzie Dern told Cageside Press ahead of a key match-up with Tecia Torres at UFC 273. “I haven’t even looked at any of Tecia’s fights yet. I’m just training on getting myself better and correcting Mackenzie as a fighter. I’m real excited for what I can bring out in this fight.”
In her last outing, Dern fell to Marina Rodriguez, losing by decision for just the second loss of her pro career. The 28-year old grappling ace has managed to find a silver lining even in defeat. “The last fight, the loss is really good for me and allowed me to correct a lot of things to make me better,” Dern told us.
Asked about her number one takeaway from the fight with Rodriguez, Dern shared that it would be patience. “Patience. I’m an emotional fighter,” Dern admitted. “I’m always kind of running after the people and chasing. I’m always thinking I want to be an entertaining fighter. Sometimes you think if you’re not going after the person, you’re maybe a boring fighter. Sooner or later, the person needs to come to you to fight.”
Heading into the fight, Torres is ranked #7 in the women’s strawweight division, while Dern herself sits in the #14 spot. We asked Mackenzie for her prediction ahead of UFC 273. “I think it’s going to be a submission. I don’t think she’s been finished before. I’m coming very strong technical wise for this fight. I don’t want to make the same mistakes as before. I think it will be the first round too.”
Torres has yet to be finished, by any means. Which will make it an impressive night at the office, should Dern pull it off next month.
Watch our full interview with UFC 273’s Mackenzie Dern above. The event takes place Saturday, April 9, 2022 at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
