Mackenzie Dern gets quick turnaround, slated for fight with returning Nina Ansaroff

Rising UFC strawweight star Mackenzie Dern is expected to return the Octagon against established contender Nina Ansaroff on April 10.

News of this bout was first reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN, the official broadcast partner of the UFC.

Breaking: Strawweight fight between Nina Ansaroff (@NinaAnsaroff) and Mackenzie Dern (@MackenzieDern) is in the works for April 10, per sources. Not signed, but both sides like it. First appearance for Nina since the birth of her and Amanda Nunes’ daughter Raegan in September.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) December 21, 2020

“Breaking: Strawweight fight between Nina Ansaroff (@NinaAnsaroff ) and Mackenzie Dern (@MackenzieDern ) is in the works for April 10, per sources. Not signed, but both sides like it. First appearance for Nina since the birth of her and Amanda Nunes’ daughter Raegan in September.”

As Okamoto says, Nina Ansaroff will enter this fight with Dern riding a long layoff, as she recently gave birth to her first child with Amanda Nunes, who currently holds the UFC’s featherweight and bantamweight titles.

Prior to her pregnancy, Ansaroff lost a decision to surging contender Tatiana Suarez. That loss was preceded by impressive wins over Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger, Angela Hill, Randa Markos, and Claudia Gadelha. While she was recently removed from the official UFC rankings due to her stint of inactivity, she was previously ranked in the strawweight division’s top-ten.

Mackenzie Dern, on the other hand, currently holds the No. 11 spot in the UFC strawweight rankings. She last fought at UFC 256 on December 12, where she picked up a decision win over Virna Jandiroba. That impressive win pushed Dern, a decorated Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner, onto a three-fight streak, as she also picked up 2020 submission wins over Markos and Hannah Cifers. Those wins were preceded by a decision loss to Amanda Ribas, which marked Dern’s first fight back from her own pregnancy.

Who do you think will win this compelling strawweight scrap?