On May 13, just two weeks from now, the UFC’s strawweight jiu-jitsu ace Mackenzie Dern returns to the Octagon to face Angela Hill, per UFC social media announcements.
Back in February, Dern told MMA Junkie she planned to gun for a submission victory, explaining, “As Mackenzie the jiu-jitsu world champion, if I’m on the ground, I should be submitting any of the girls. So in that way, I’m always going to push myself. That’s why I’m training so much jiu-jitsu just to keep […] jiu-jitsu is always my last priority, a little bit, because I was trying to get my striking up to where it needs to be, my takedowns, all these things.
“But now, I’m just like, ‘Okay, I’m getting it to the ground now, but I need to finish it.’ I only have five minutes to get to the ground, to submit, and we still have punches and all these things. So I need to be on point with my jiu-jitsu.”
Daughter of the legendary Wellington “Megaton” Dias, as well as both an ADCC and IBJJF world champion in her own right, Dern remains by far the most decorated submission grappler in her division. However, she returns to the Octagon off of a tough decision loss to Yan Xiaonan from this past October. With seven submission wins in MMA under her belt, Dern no doubt hopes for a return to form against “Overkill.”
