Mackenzie Dern enters the co-main occasion of UFC 321 with a singular focus: securing the vacant girls’s strawweight title and proving what she has lengthy believed in. As Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Enviornment prepares to host the occasion this Saturday, Dern spent match week immersed in visualization workout routines.
Mackenzie Dern wins gold at UFC 321
In an interview with MMA Combating, Mackenzie Dern defined:
“I have been visualizing having my hand raised with Dana White and having my daughter increase her hand with me. I really feel like I am prepared for that second.”
The vacant strawweight title was vacated by former champion Zhang Weili when he opted to maneuver as much as flyweight, leaving the belt to the winner of Dern’s rematch with Vilna Jandirova. Dern and Jandiroba first met in 2020, when Dern earned a unanimous resolution victory. Since that first matchup, Jandiroba has received eight straight fights, bettering his ground-and-pound entry and aggressive protection within the course of. In the meantime, Dern bounced again from two straight setbacks to document decisive wins over Lupita Godinez (armbar submission) and Angela Hill (five-round resolution).
With an illustrious profession in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, she has confronted high-level strikers like Amanda Lemos and Marina Rodriguez, however has by no means been handed within the Octagon. Her preparation underneath coach Jason Pirro has targeted on mixing submission threats with improved takedown setups, a mix she believes might be decisive in opposition to Jandiroba.
Jandiroba is a strong wrestler with 22 skilled wins (9 of which have been by submission) and an 8-3 document in UFC competitors. Her means to maintain Dern in scrambles and management place exchanges will check Dern’s developed takedown protection. Nevertheless, Dern’s camp believes her guard work and transition submission recreation will neutralize Jandiroba’s wrestling basis. The important thing, Dern emphasizes, is controlling tempo.
Dern’s emphasis on psychological preparation marks a departure from the early levels of his profession, when he frankly stated he wasn’t prepared for an opportunity to win in opposition to Weili Zhang. With a gold medal on the road, Dern insists the psychological part is her major coaching space. She goals to show visualization into actuality by imagining the precise second she raised her arms subsequent to her daughter.
