Philadelphia — Women’s strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern looks to defend her 115lb title for the first time at UFC 330 this Saturday, paired up with another strong submission fighter in Canada’s Gillian Robertson.
There’s been a bit of a beef between the two fighters ahead of the event, though truth be told, that appears to be one-sided.
Speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press on Wednesday, Dern (16-5) recapped the pair’s first face-off. “That was the first time I’ve ever met her, so I’ve never seen her in person. I think she looked happy, she looked confident, and I think we both looked like we were there to throw down.”
Robertson has suggested that Dern doesn’t like her, based on comments the champ has made about not really knowing the Canadian challenger. In response, Dern said that “I don’t like her or dislike her. I don’t know her. But I mean yeah, I think it’s really cool how she has the most finishes [among women in the UFC]. There’s a lot of stuff I’m learning about her this week, not because I have anything against her.”
“I think she definitely maybe had her eyes more on me than I did on her, just because she was in the 125 division. She wasn’t even in our division and then she came down; and I was just focused on me and Weili [Zhang, former UFC women’s strawweight champion] at the time,” continued Dern, noting that she wasn’t paying attention to fighters behind her as she was preparing to challenge for strawweight gold.
“It’s not that I don’t like her or do like her or anything like that. I don’t know her. I really respect her journey in the UFC,” continued Dern, adding that Robertson had taken part in The Ultimate Fighter, a show Dern herself appeared on as a guest. “I think she’s the one who doesn’t like me.”
Mackenzie Dern versus Gillian Robertson is billed as a grappler versus grappler bout, and Dern was asked to rank Roberton’s grappling ability.
“For MMA, I think, 8, 9. Like close,” she suggested. Dern doesn’t even expect a clear advantage to necessarily show in the fight. “No, because it’s five minutes. Each round is only five minutes. Five minutes isn’t a lot of time to work, especially when she’s good and she knows what she’s doing. I don’t know what belt she is, but if she’s a black belt- well I mean there’s other girls who are black belts, like Virna [Jandiroba] and stuff.”
“She’s [Robertson] someone who’s aggressive and goes forward and she looks for the attack. I think she’s going to try to progress in the fight, she’s not going to just get a takedown and just stay safe, I think she’ll try and catch the back. She’s not someone I want to fall on a bad position with.”
Dern suggested that it could take a while for the pair to even get to the ground, assuming the pair both know how to stay safe and attack. However, she also pointed out that Robertson has been submitted, including via arm-bar.
“There are definitely weakness or holes there,” opined Dern. “I haven’t been submitted or things like that. So I don’t think you’ll see in this fight, ‘oh wow I’m doing something crazy that she doesn’t do.’ But I do have some tricks up my sleeve.”
Watch the full UFC 330 media day appearance by Mackenzie Dern above.
