Mackenzie Dern wants to establish herself as the main representative of jiu-jitsu in MMA

 

Black belt will make the main fight of the event this Saturday, against Marina Rodriguez, and wants to follow the steps of names like Royce Gracie and Demian Maia

Mackenzie Dern will make the main fight of the UFC this Saturday, in Las Vegas, against Marina Rodriguez. The duel, valid for the strawweight division, will be Dern's first fight as the most important of the event. In an interview to Combate, she was thrilled with the current moment of her career.

- I am very happy. I still haven't reached where I wanted to reach, I'm just at the beginning. It's been two months since I knew I would make the main fight, so it gave me more prestige, because every athlete dreams of doing this one day. I was signing the posters for the event and saw my face, I had doubts about where I was going to sign, because I didn't want to sign on my forehead (laughs). These details, these nice things of conquering your space and seeing that everything is going well.

Mackenzie bets on a great fight against Rodriguez, and tells a personal curiosity about the fights she's done against other compatriots in the event.

- Marina always fights forward, to strike, to knock out, she has that heavy right hand of hers. Me too, always putting pressure to take it to the ground, or if I have to fight, I will fight too. Her right hand is hard, she has a good wingspan. She starts a little slower, but then she starts putting more pressure with elbows and knees. I believe she will have a good takedown defense. I have to find the distance and not let her grow in the fight. I don't want to let her get all that confidence. The only thing is that it is a Brazilian fight against a Brazilian, it could be for the belt, we could fight for the belt, but everybody is chasing the dream. It's curious, after I fought Amanda (Ribas), I started to follow her, and I saw her and her brother's effort, I really liked her story. The same thing with Virna (Jandiroba), I started to follow her on instagram and then I fought with her. Now with Marina. All the girls that I have a respect for, I end up fighting. This shows that Brazilian women are getting there, if we are fighting each other, it is because we are getting to the top. I am sure that this strawweight belt will come back to Brazil.

- It's bad to have to face other Brazilians, because they all have a lot of strength and heart, regardless of their art. The Brazilian woman is good in everything she does and whenever there is a Brazilian woman against a Brazilian woman we will fight with everything we have. The women in Brazil have this focus of going after, wanting equality.

Multi-champion in jiu-jitsu, Mackenzie arrived at the UFC with the status of one of the greatest fighters in the history of soft art. And she accepts the responsibility of defending the flag of a modality that has been so identified with names like Royce Gracie, Demian Maia, and Ronaldo Jacaré, among others.

- I wanted to get to this fight showing everything I am representing. Going back to the UFC roots, to Royce Gracie's times, because I believe I am the first woman IBJJF world champion representing jiu-jitsu in MMA. We already had BJ Penn, Demian Maia, Ronaldo Jacaré and several others in the men's category, but in the women's category I am one of the first. UFC 1 was in 1993 and now we are in 2021 and we still manage to have this representation, to show the efficiency of jiu-jitsu. Of course it changed a lot, most of the athletes are more or less in everything, you see that they work on everything, but this fight can show the difference between jiu-jitsu and muay thai, not that one is better than the other, but in Apex, for example, the octagon is smaller, it can favor me a little in this fight.

For the confrontation against Rodriguez, Mackenzie has once again called on Rogério Camões, the trainer famous for taking care of Anderson Silva and Ronaldo Jacaré's physical condition. According to her, improving in this aspect is essential to climb a step towards the top of the category.

- Rogério helped me in my last fight. When I fought Nina (Nunes) I knew I needed to go to another level to get into the top 5, I needed something more. I knew that just training hard at my gym wouldn't make me different. I want to fight five rounds, to have power. The work is very good, he came back for this fight and is with me in the corner this time. I am loving the work and I know that in the physical part I will lack nothing.

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