Mackenzie Dern is quickly becoming one of the more popular fighters in the mixed martial arts regional circuit. Even though it is clear the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace needs to improve on her striking, she raised enough eyebrows in her first three fights to be on the UFC’s radar.
Still, even though she has a lot of room for improvement in the striking department, it appears as if she met her match on the mats when it comes to grappling. Bia Mesquita recently submitted Dern in competition over the weekend and she revealed to MMA Fighting that she thought it’d be more difficult:
“I thought the match would be a bit tougher. I was surprised how fast it was. I thought it would be closer. I believed in the win, but I thought it would be closer, that I would win by two points or an advantage, that it would last 10 minutes.”
“I surprised myself a bit that I was able to impose my game so well. I went to the match and was able to dominate it. When I can use everything I know, when everything works, there’s no other result if not a submission.”
