Las Vegas — UFC Vegas 101 headliner Mackenzie Dern had a friend in tow at Wednesday’s media day: her Cane Corso, Mack.
Think of him as the sturdiest emotional support dog ever.
“He helps me a lot just being comfortable. I’m kind of trying to stay as calm as I can. I think what I’m most needing in my fights is composure, and to kind of just go into the Apex one more time and just feel like it’s a training session,” Dern (14-5) told media outlets including Cageside Press, with Mack seated beside her.
“He goes to the gym with me and everything like that. Moa [Dern’s daughter] is going to be here on Friday, so it’s kind of the best way to just keep me relaxed and not getting all my nerves up too high.”
This Saturday, headlining the first UFC card of 2025, Mackenzie Dern is running it back with Amanda Ribas. Ribas came away with the victory in their first meeting, but much has changed in the five years that ensued, as Dern outlined.
“I feel like I was such a different person back then, it doesn’t even feel like that was me.” The heart and the overhand rights are still with her, but, added Dern, “I feel like I’m a totally different person. And it was three rounds. I think we’re at totally different phases of our careers. I’ve evolved in striking and wrestling and takedowns, just so much experience.”
Dern later admitted to having some regret over agreeing to the Ribas fight just four months after giving birth to Moa.
“A little bit, yeah. I think I still would have losses in my career, and I’m still happy with where I’m at today. I think it’s what made me be who I am today, so I can’t say ‘I totally regret it,’ but I think if I could go back again, I would wait a little bit longer.”
In the jiu-jitsu world, where Mackenzie Dern originated, a losing streak doesn’t define you. “You can lose like 10 times, it doesn’t ruin, if you’re a better fighter or not. And nowadays I understand how just two consecutive wins, you can be in line for a title. So that’s the goal, to be a champion. And that kind of, maybe if I would have kept undefeated like Tatiana Suarez, I think she’s only had ten fights, but they’re all wins— all those little things make a difference. And also too, kind of getting that respect of your opponents, they know that you haven’t lost to someone, they don’t see any openings and stuff like that.”
“I feel like my career took a different turn with my decision to kind of like [go] ‘oh, it’s okay,” added Dern, noting that she was “scared of the ring rust at that time, and I wasn’t even like a real MMA fighter. I didn’t even know what ring rust was.” Having been out for a year already after giving birth, she was worried about sitting on the sidelines even longer. “I was already one year out basically. The fans think I’ll never come back, the last fight I had just missed weight in Brazil, so I was on a roll, I wanted to show that just because I had a baby, I’ll be back in and everything like that. And I thought I was good at the time. I didn’t realize, five years, how much better I could get.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 101 media day appearance by Mackenzie Dern above.
