Mackenzie Dern gets ever closer to the UFC.
Highly touted jiu-jitsu world champion Mackenzie Dern announced Monday on The MMA Hour that she has signed a new deal with all-female Mixed Martial Arts promotion Invicta FC.
Dern said that her Invicta FC promotional debut will be on December 8, 2017 in a Strawweight bout against former title challenger Kaline Medeiros.
Dern (4-0) was the No. 1 ranked women’s jiu-jitsu player in 2015 when she announced her intentions to transition into MMA. She is now one of the most promising female prospects in MMA.
Dern has won nogi world championships including a gold medal at the Abu Dhabi Combat Club, the most prestigious grappling tournament in the world. She is the daughter of famed Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Wellington “Megaton” Dias. She is one of only a few women to hold a tournament victory over the notorious giant Gabi Garcia.
At this stage of her career, Dern has won all four of her professional fights under the Legacy FC and LFA promotions. In these fights she has demonstrated her well-recognized mat skills with a pair of submission finishes. The other two wins have come via dominant decision.
In just her second fight, Dern landed on many of 2016’s ‘Submission of Year’ lists for her highlight-reel, first-round omoplata/rear-naked choke submission over TUF 26 quarterfinalist Montana Stewart.
But Dern is not one-dimensional. Her last fight’s submission stoppage came after she knocked down Mandy Polk with a hard overhand right hand before submitting the veteran with a rear-naked choke in the first round at LFA 24.
Dern has set herself a goal of competing in the UFC, the highest level of Women’s MMA, by the end of the year. She also announced that she wants to fight once more by the end of 2017. One obstacle in her path is her own lack of reliability on the scale. Of her four fights, two were contested at catch-weight due to her inability to make weight. That will have to change if she truly wants to transition into the elite level of the fight game. With stricter commissions and higher stakes, missed weight can be a nightmare for even the most charismatic fighter’s career.
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