Primarily based on how arduous Dana White and the gang have been pushing Mackenzie Dern, they had been hoping her UFC 330 struggle towards Gillian Robertson can be a star-making affair.
Alas, like most greatest laid plans in MMA, that did not fairly come collectively. As an alternative, Dern struggled to submit her opponent regardless of ample time on the canvas, and a struggle that started off as a enjoyable brawl slowly floor down to a whole stall by spherical 5.
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Dern took the struggle convincingly with 49–46, 49–46, and 48–47 scores, and Robertson by no means actually had something for the champion throughout 5 rounds. Mackenzie was sooner together with her placing, hit tougher, kicked tougher, and was undoubtedly ranges above Robertson when issues hit the mat. She virtually secured a rear bare choke within the dying seconds of the primary spherical, however Robertson’s grit allowed her to carry on till the buzzer.
That was as thrilling because the struggle acquired. Dern hit a number of takedowns from there and was in a position to management Robertson on the bottom, however she by no means threatened one other end. Spherical 5 noticed her caught on her again for a number of minutes. She gained, and was by no means in peril of shedding, Nevertheless it simply wasn’t the sort of bout that makes followers clamor to see extra.
It definitely would not erase the notion amongst extra tuned-in struggle followers that Dern is merely a placeholder champion till Weili Zhang returns to the division. Zhang relinquished the strawweight in October 2025 as a part of a transfer to ladies’s flyweight, solely to endure a horribly one-sided loss to Valentina Shevchenko a month later.
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It has been 9 months since then and we’ve not heard a fight-related peep from Zhang since. Will she even return, not to mention again at strawweight? If she does, the final consensus is she’d whup Mackenzie Dern’s butt throughout the octagon with ease. Dern’s efficiency tonight towards Robertson will solely entrench that opinion additional.
Tonight in Philadelphia, she had her likelihood to step out from the shadow of Weili Zhang with a strong efficiency. What we noticed did not qualify.
