Mackenzie Dern UFC debut vs. Ashley Yoder in March
Benson Henderson: “She will be bigger than Ronda Rousey before Ronda Rousey lost. She’s going to be huge.”
One of the most anticipated UFC debuts in years will take place at UFC 222 on March 3 in Vegas, as McKenzie Dern enters the Octagon for the first time, and fights Ashley Yoder.
She will be bigger than Ronda Rousey before Ronda Rousey lost, said Benson Henderson on The MMA Hour as transcribed by News.com.au. She’s going to be huge. She’s going to be big. She has an excellent work ethic.
Go look her up, she is a multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion. She’s won ADCC. She’s won Abu Dhabi. She’s won Worlds. She’s the current No.1 ranked female jiu-jitsu practitioner on the planet. She has an amazing work ethic. She’s an amazing athlete.”
Rare individuals become so highly skilled in one base discipline of mixed martial arts, that they can quickly make a mark in the sport. Perhaps most famously, Brock Lesnar won the UFC heavyweight championship in just his fourth fight, just 17 months after his MMA debut.
Dern is currently a perfect 5-0 in MMA, with an extraordinary grappling pedigree. She is also highly mediagenic. Mediagenic is a polite term for hot. And Dern is by all accounts a good and friendly human being.
Rounding out a great story, Dern 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 22 World Jiu-Jitsu Championships, since the first edition in 1996.
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Ashley ‘Spider Monkey’ Yoder entered the UFC with a 5-1 record, but lost unanimous decisions to Justine Kish and Angela Hill in her two fights in the Octagon.
