The UFC women’s strawweight division has a new queen. Mackenzie Dern has spent her entire mixed martial arts career maturing in the spotlight. On Saturday, her ever-evolving striking game lifted her to a pivotal win over Virna Jandiroba at UFC 321.
Dern made her MMA debut in 2016 after wrapping up a decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu career. An unrefined prospect with fantastic submissions, Dern’s limitations were a constant point of criticism in the past. Under the tutelage of renowned striking coach Jason Parillo, Dern leaned on her improved striking to win the vacant UFC women’s strawweight title in a competitive scrap.
Dern slightly outstruck Jandiroba while generally landing the more damaging blows. Though Jandiroba scored multiple takedowns, she wasn’t able to do much with them. Both women were bruised and banged up after the fight, the consequences of a primarily striking war of attrition. The final scorecards read 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46 in favor of Dern.
“It feels amazing. I can’t believe this happened…” Dern told UFC commentator Daniel Cormier during her post-fight interview. “It wasn’t the fight I expected. I thought it’d be easier.”
Dern found herself in a favorable position fighting for the title. With Zhang Weili vacating the title, there weren’t many suitable options for a vacant title fight. Zhang and Jandiroba had beaten most of the contenders ranked above Dern, plus Dern had a 2020 win over Jandiroba. The win over Jandiroba was Dern’s third straight win, a significant comeback after losing consecutive fights for the first time in her career.
An emotional Dern celebrated her crowning achievement by placing the UFC title over the shoulder of her young daughter, noting that she’s never lost a fight with her daughter in attendance.
While Dern is the undisputed champion, there’s a spiritual asterisk to it. Dominant champion Zhang vacated the belt to challenge women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 322. Should Zhang return to strawweight after the November pay-per-view, many would deem her the uncrowned champion coming back to reclaim her throne.
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