Abu Dhabi — Mackenzie Dern didn’t take the fast track to her UFC title opportunity.
That arrives this Saturday, in the form of a rematch with ex-Invicta FC strawweight champ Virna Jandiroba. The opportunity was facilitated by Weili Zhang vacating her 115lb title to pursue a fight with flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko; Dern vs. Jandiroba goes down for the vacant UFC strawweight strap.
As Dern (15-5) noted during Wednesday’s UFC 321 media day in Abu Dhabi, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press, in her original sport of jiu-jitsu, she was “winning everything.”
Then she switched sports. “I humbled myself to start something new and basically become like a white belt and just like learn and go through,” stated Dern. “Especially on a bigger platform with all these critics. The UFC fans, they love you then hate you then love you again, so it’s a lot like a roller coaster ride.”
Dern would have loved an undefeated career, but at the same time added that “I’m proud of my journey, and I think that’s what’s going to make me a great champion, is the adversity that I went through.” And rather than a shooting star like Ronda Rousey, Dern sees herself more akin to Charles “Do Bronxs” Oliveira. “Who kind of, everyone saw he had so much potential, he’s been kind of up and down, and he’s been at it for a while and he has all these submissions.”
It’s been a decade since Dern won her world title in BJJ, and she had wondered what it would be liked to win a UFC championship a decade later. Then, it was announced that the fight would come in Abu Dhabi, where she won her jiu-jitsu crown. Both the ten year anniversary, and return to familiar territory, bode well in Dern’s opinion.
“I really think it’s destiny. I don’t know what the results will be exactly on Saturday, but I really believe that the stars are aligned.” Having trained since she was five years old, “this is a long time coming, and I feel like now is the time. To be here in Abu Dhabi with so many great results, I’ve never had a bad experience here, and I don’t plan on having a bad experience on Saturday night.”
Watch the full UFC 321 media day appearance by Mackenzie Dern above.
