Former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade rebounded from the worst losing streak of her career against jiu-jitsu ace Macdenzie Dern at UFC 295.
The dynamic seemed simple coming into the bout, as with most Dern fights; Mackenzie would look for grappling situations while Andrade would look to throw hands at her. With the second-most finishes in women’s UFC history for Andrade (following Amanda Nunes) and the most submissions in strawweight history, this fight had the makings of an exciting one.
Dern came out and struck her way into a head-and-arm throw which succeeded momentarily, but Andrade popped right back to her feet. Jessica stalked forward but kept her hands holstered too often and could not land consistently. Mackenzie came back with strikes of her own which were effective but also left her open due to her wild form, as she got dropped momentarily from a counter by Andrade. The leg kicks of Andrade also damaged Dern a lot. With just five seconds left in the round Jessica got a much cleaner knockdown which clearly damaged Dern a lot and likely stole the round for Andrade.
The second round started with another wild striking exchange. The battle on the feet was fairly close until halfway through the round when Andrade scored yet another knockdown. This time, she called Dern back to the feet after the BJJ ace tried to pull guard. That pattern repeated itself again, and after the third knockdown of the round he referee stopped it, as if it was a kickboxing bout.
Official Result: Jessica Andrade def. Mackenzie Dern by TKO (punches), Round 2, 3:15
