{"id":208406,"date":"2016-10-25T17:56:40","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T00:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=208406"},"modified":"2016-10-25T17:56:40","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T00:56:40","slug":"bjj-wizard-mackenzie-dern-already-talks-ufc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/mackenzie-dern\/bjj-wizard-mackenzie-dern-already-talks-ufc\/","title":{"rendered":"BJJ wizard Mackenzie Dern already in talks with the UFC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mackenzie Dern<\/a> is well-known in the world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The BJJ black belt has a long list of accolades that include ADCC Champion, World Champion, World Pro Champion and No Gi World Champion.<\/p>\n

Now, the daughter of Wellington \u201cMegaton\u201d Dias is getting into mixed martial arts and holds a 2-0 record, fighting under Legacy FC. However, Dern is eyeing a UFC debut perhaps as early as 2017.<\/p>\n

\"BJJ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe UFC talked to us already,\u201d<\/em> Dern told MMA Junkie<\/a>. \u201cMy team and my coaches, we talked with them, and we definitely want to \u2013 I want to be there. I\u2019m hoping in 2017 I\u2019ll be there. But I don\u2019t want to get just thrown into the shark tank. I want to go in there being a shark. I don\u2019t want to be the fish for the sharks.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI respect all the girls there, and I know they\u2019re at the highest level. It\u2019s not jiu-jitsu. It\u2019s a different sport. And I know that jiu-jitsu can help me for so long, but I know that sooner or later, I\u2019ll have to be ready to take them down or something like that. So we\u2019re just taking our time. I hope in 2017 I can be in the UFC. We\u2019re just being patient and trying to get better as fast as possible. And while I\u2019m doing that, I\u2019m just enjoying the process.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

While Dern is transitioning to mixed martial arts<\/a>, she isn’t stepping away from competitive jiu-jitsu, for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for all athletes in the beginning, it\u2019s hard to live off of MMA. It\u2019s no different for me. I\u2019m still not at the phase where I can live just off of it. People think that doing jiu-jitsu is just for fun, but jiu-jitsu is my job. A lot of people that do MMA, they do part-time jobs, but jiu-jitsu is my job. I think that as long as I can\u2019t live just off of MMA, I\u2019ll keep doing jiu-jitsu.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

With so many techniques and aspects of the game to work on in mixed martial arts, Dern says it’s something she is enjoying with the learning curve and is still working out some of the kinks. Dern missed weight in her last bout earlier this month, weighing in at 118.3 pounds for her strawweight bout while her opponent, Montana Stewart stepped on the scales weighing in at 115.5 pounds. Stewart received a percentage of Dern’s fight purse for missing weight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t slow down my jiu-jitsu, but I still feel that I\u2019m learning so much in MMA. And it\u2019s good to have that feeling back. That\u2019s what motivates me \u2013 to go in there one day and have my coach show me something and seeing it works when I try it at sparring the next day. Of course in jiu-jitsu, we have new girls coming to the back belt all the time, and it\u2019s growing. That\u2019s why I still love to compete. But I wanted to learn again, to feel myself getting better, becoming a better athlete.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

With a quickly growing fanbase, Dern is looking to be an advocate for the sport of jiu-jitsu<\/a> with her performances in the sport of mixed martial arts and hopes her fans that have been with her from the start will be able to witness her capture a championship title.<\/p>\n

\"crazy<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the MMA world is the perfect place to help people be more aware of jiu-jitsu, and female sports and female athletes. So I\u2019m happy, and I really hope that I help get more people excited about women\u2019s jiu-jitsu and jiu-jitsu in general. To be compared to Demian Maia and Ronda Rousey \u2013 I\u2019m so honored. What Ronda did for women in MMA and what Demian did for jiu-jitsu, if I could get the best of both worlds, that\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mackenzie Dern is well-known in the world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The BJJ black belt has a long list of accolades that include ADCC Champion, World Champion, World Pro Champion and No Gi World Champion. Now, the daughter of Wellington \u201cMegaton\u201d Dias is getting into mixed martial arts and holds a 2-0 record, fighting under Legacy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54422,"featured_media":208414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10358],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nBJJ wizard Mackenzie Dern already in talks with the UFC | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/mackenzie-dern\/bjj-wizard-mackenzie-dern-already-talks-ufc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BJJ wizard Mackenzie Dern already in talks with the UFC | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mackenzie Dern is well-known in the world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. 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