Abu Dhabi — A little sore, but amazing. That’s how newly crowned women’s strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern was feeling following UFC 321 on Saturday.
While she had wanted a finish, either a knockout or a submission, in her first UFC title fight, Dern (16-5) also knows that she “left it all out there.” In the end, she earned a hard-fought unanimous decision victory over Virna Jandiroba to claim the title vacated by Weili Zhang.
“It’s like a dream come true, but every time I reach a goal, I always make a new one,” Dern told media outlets including Cageside Press following the bout. “I’m already thinking about getting back in the gym, getting better, and I know I’m going to have a huge target on my back now, so I’m ready for what’s coming next.”
The question now is, who is up next? Names like Zhang, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and Rose Namajunas have either moved up or retired. Tatiana Suarez, despite coming off a loss to Zhang, is one name that has Dern’s interest.
“I’m here to defend it, so whoever gets sent to me, I’ll be ready for,” she said of her newly won title. “So I don’t know [about] Weili, but I would definitely like to just fight Tatiana. Maybe she gets one more fight in, but I want to have a couple more fights with some grapplers.”
Regardless, Mackenzie Dern knows that holding on to the title will be no easy feat.
“They say it’s hard to get the belt, but it’s even harder to stay at the top and defend it. So I’m definitely prepared for all the hard work that has to go in. The hard part starts now, but I’m excited. Whoever’s going to come, that’s what’s going to make me evolve as a fighter,” noted Dern, who mentioned the process of transitioning from a grappler to a striker. “I have to redo myself every single fight, so they can never find the right way to beat me.”
Watch the full UFC 321 post-fight press conference with Mackenzie Dern above.
