by King Hazard
In July, Mackenzie Dern made her mixed martial arts debut to great success. At Legacy FC 58, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner defeated Kenia Rosas by unanimous decision. Dern proved to the world she can hang with the best as she survived multiple submission attempts by her opponent.
Although it wasn’t the debut she was hoping for Dern now expects to evolve in MMA and eventually build enough confidence to fight for the UFC belt. In an interview with MMA Fighting‘s Ariel Helwani, Dern said her goal is to fight for the gold at the end of 2017.
I learn fast. I think that as long as I keep evolving, that’s the plan, I’m not gonna give up on what I have planned. I think I’m doing good, just to get used to it and keep being confident and trust. There’s so much stuff that my coaches taught me. But I think for my first fight was able to have that come out. I’m excited to start testing more my stand-up but, of course, I’m never gonna take away my jiu-jitsu. I’ll always go to jiu-jitsu, but I’m still confident with that goal. I think that maybe by the end of 2017 I can try for a title. We’ll see. Who knows? You never know. But that’s the goal.
Dern, 23, began training by 3 years old and moved on to competing in the adult divisions by 14 years old. She has won a world championship in every belt as she progressed to black belt.
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