48.9Ĥ: First-round submissions by Dern, the most by a woman in UFC history, giving her an average fight time of 8 minutes, 22 seconds, the third shortest in the history of the strawweight division (minimum five fights). Saturday's fights are on ESPN+, with the main card starting at 4 p.m. And it's feeling more and more real with every fight. Not that everyone believed Dern was a shoo-in for a UFC title the moment she put on a pair of MMA gloves, but it also felt like a real possibility.
When you transition into MMA with Dern's kind of background and accomplishments - she's a multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion - those are the expectations. But there is no question that this stage is set for Dern to take the next step, to continue her development and path toward a potential UFC title. 6-ranked strawweight entering the weekend, and she's an intriguing title challenger in her own right. Rodriguez is one of the top strikers in the division - an area in which Dern is still a work in progress - and she'll hold a height and reach advantage in this matchup. She is coming off a five-round main event against Michelle Waterson in May. She's not in a rush to win a title.ĭern (11-1) faces her toughest test to date in Rodriguez (14-1-2), a 34-year-old Brazilian fighter. She has set her goals high - just this week, she spoke on the possibility of an eventual flyweight title fight against Valentina Shevchenko - but she's also grounded and realistic. She has shown a great deal of maturity and discipline in recent years, after early struggles with things like work ethic and weight management. She has created a perfect partnership with head coach Jason Parillo, who has coached multiple former UFC champions, including BJ Penn, Tito Ortiz, Michael Bisping, Rafael dos Anjos and Luke Rockhold. A win would solidify Dern as a top-five contender at strawweight, and potentially even bolster her into the top three.Įverything seems to be clicking for Dern, who has recorded first-round submissions in three of her past four appearances. The 28-year-old will ride a four-fight win streak into her first UFC main event on Saturday when she meets Marina Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night inside the Apex in Las Vegas (2 p.m.
Granted, so many things need to go right for any prospect to fully realize his or her potential, but in the case of Dern, her submission grappling is at such a high level, it's the kind of trump card that can turn a prospect into a contender into a champion.įive years into her professional career, things are going right for Dern.
When Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Mackenzie Dern made her full transition into mixed martial arts in 2016, the sheer potential of it was intoxicating.
Life flows freely with Ireland’s fastest broadband.You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserĬan Mackenzie Dern continue on path toward a UFC title, or is it Marina Rodriguez's time? However, a lack of evidence for this claim means that it remains on top of our list.
Rumours circulated that Macias was asked to throw the fight in order to ensure his future in the sport.
Two decades have passed and no one has come even remotely close to scoring a quicker submission victory than Taktarov's guillotine against Anthony Macias. The stunning heel-hook submission loss clearly had a huge impact on Eric as this was his first and only professional fight. In the battle of the Martins, Justin was triumphant. This game plan backfired completely as the champion locked in one of her trademark armbars in less time than it took Bruce Buffer to introduce her. Alpha Cat signed her own death warrant by charging towards Rousey from the opening bell. Despite the promising start of armbaring his opponent after 14 seconds, he went on to have a not-so-stellar MMA career, getting submitted 12 times and finishing up with a record of 6-13.Ĭat Zingano is still trying to figure out what happened in this women's bantamweight title fight. The Ghetto Man had one hell of a professional debut against Kevin Rosier.