Newest holder of UFC gold Dern won the vacant UFC Women's Strawweight Championship on Saturday, defeating Virna Jandiroba via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47) at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi. Impact It was a typical Dern fight in the sense that it was very entertaining, although massively sloppy at times. Mackenzie, by no means a great striker herself, was the much more effective competitor on the feet. She was at her best when she was pushing forward and firing off jabs at Jandiroba. Dern allowed nine takedowns on 17 attempts, but as is always the case, she remained active off of her back and often won those exchanges simply because Virna always struggles to generate any offense despite her positional advantages. As talented as Mackenzie is from a submission standpoint, giving up that many takedowns is going to burn her in the long run. Dern will be 33 years old in late March. Despite this win, she's still just 6-4 in her past 10 fights dating back to April 2021. Mackenzie is both popular and marketable, so the UFC has to be thrilled with this result, but she doesn't appear to have the skill set to hold the belt through multiple title defenses. One thing Dern does have going for her is that the 115-pound female division is woefully thin at the moment.
OCTOBER 25 • ROTOWIRE