Mackenzie Dern hits submission of the year candidate
Drawing as it does from a base of any of several combat sports, rare individuals become so highly skilled in…
Drawing as it does from a base of any of several combat sports, rare individuals become so highly skilled in one discipline, that they can quickly make a mark in mixed martial arts. Perhaps most famously, Brock Lesnar won the UFC heavyweight championship in just his fourth fight, just 17 months after his MMA debut.
Phoenix, Arizona’s Mackenzie Dern, 23, is ranked by the IBJJF as the number one female black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. She is also highly mediagenic. Mediagenic means hot. Dern is also by all accounts a good, nice human being.
And rounding out a great story, she is a second-generation fighter. Her dad is Wellington ‘Megaton’ Dias, a 6th-degree black belt in BJJ under Royler Gracie, and the only BJJ competitor who has competed in all 21 World Jiu-Jitsu Championships, since the first edition in 1996.
She made her MMA debut vs. Kenia Rosas on July 22, 2016, at Legacy Fighting Championship 58, earning a unanimous decision.
On Friday night at Legacy FC 61 she had her second fight vs. Montana Stewart. It ended with a submission of the year candidate at 3:25 of Round 1, as Dern went for an omoplata and then transitioned to a rear naked choke.
Video via the ever awesome Zombie Prophet.
https://twitter.com/ZPGIFs/status/787130535218909184
Dern was not sure which submission did the trick.
“I don’t know if she [tapped to] the shoulder or the choke,” she told Ron Kruck afterward, adding, “but I hope both were uncomfortable.”
Dern said she wants to fight again on December 2, and aims to be in the UFC by 2017. The only hiccup this fight was weighing in at 118.75 lbs. for the 116 lbs strawweight cut off, but missing weight early in a career is a regular part of the process.
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