Mackenzie Dern promises to never miss weight again following UFC 224

Mackenzie Dern improved her mixed martial arts record to a perfect 7-0 at last weekend’s UFC 224 event in Brazil, scoring a first-round submission victory (rear-naked choke) over Amanda Cooper.

However, Dern’s victory over Cooper at UFC 224 was marred in controversy, this after Mackenzie had missed weight by a whopping seven pounds.
Despite the jiu-jitsu ace having a significant size advantage, “ACB” decided to take the fight and by doing so also received 30 percent of Dern’s fight purse.

Mackenzie Dern was a recent guest on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani where she revealed how her UFC 224 bout with Amanda Cooper came to fruition following her botched weight cut.

“I’m not surprised. She got 30 percent of the purse, which was my penalty — usually it’s only 20 percent, but because I was so much heavier it went up to 30 percent,” Dern stated. “I think she was confident in the fight. I think she thought she was going to win and everything. If I was confident and I was getting 30 percent and we were giving her an extra 15 percent too — if I won I would give her 15 percent of the bonus extra too — I would have accepted the fight too. I was hoping she would. I was really grateful she accepted the fight.”

Following her UFC 224 win over Amanda Cooper, Mackenzie Dern received a ton of backlash from fans and fellow fighters on social media for her lack of professionalism. The submission specialist is now eager to prove her doubters wrong and went as far as to guarantee that she will never miss weight again.

“It’s kind of crazy. I see people putting hamburgers in my hands. I want to take it serious and I want to show that this won’t happen again, but with some of the memes and stuff I have to laugh. It’s kind of crazy.”

Dern believes that her extra seven pounds did not play a part in her UFC 224 victory over “ACB”.

“As soon as I arrived the UFC weighed us and I was 138 and she was 134 or 135, so as soon as I saw that I thought, ‘She’s almost my size’. I knew my right punch was strong from the times I hit her, but I didn’t feel so much heavier or something. I wasn’t thinking about the weight anymore.”

As for a potential move up to flyweight, Mackenzie Dern remains set on competing at 115-pounds.

“I want to stay at strawweight. Hopefully, with the help of UFC Performance Institute it will be a lot easier and it will all be under control. If they told me, ‘It’s not good for you to fight at 115’, then I would go to 125. I’ve made 115 before, three times, so I think it’s a better weight for me. I can guarantee [that I won’t miss weight again].”