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Mackenzie Dern


DFan

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So last night I watched some of UFC 224 and this cute fighter showed up, looking a little soft for her division.

Her name is Mackenzie Dern and she fights in the strawweight (115 lbs/ 52 kg) division, tho I suspect they will move her up now to Flyweight (125 lbs/ 57 kg)

She got A LOT of heat for being far from the weight limit of the division, she weighed in at 123 lbs/ 56 kg and was prolly close 130 lbs/59 kg at fight time, its the 3rd out of her 7 fights she has not made weight, so as I said, I ecpect UFC to move her up to 125 lbs, she´s 5´3/ 160 cm

Personally I would love to see her in the 145 lbs/66 kg division

 She defeated Amanda Coope by submission in the 1st round

This is the kind of heat she got from her peers, which is kinda of insane when you thing about it, that kind of shade for a 123 lbs pound woman.

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37 minutes ago, TheRealFenian said:

Why did they let her fight when she missed weight by that much? seems really unfair to the other fighter.

 

Good thread though.

Cooper agreed to it, plus Dern had to forfeit a significant amount (30%, I believe) of her pay to the other fighter.

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43 minutes ago, TheRealFenian said:

Why did they let her fight when she missed weight by that much? seems really unfair to the other fighter.

 

Good thread though.

Thanks and that is pretty controversial that they even went thru with it.

But the thing is her opponent Amanda Cooper said yes to the fight, Cooper also got 30% of Dern´s purse for the fight, tho I read a little up on it, other fighters said they would have demanded 50% with such a miss in weight.

Dern was legit a weight class over Cooper, when a fighter doesn´t make weight they rule it catchweight.

Cooper wrote this before the fight

but got whipped by Dern, the fight ended after 2 min 27 sec. of the 1st round

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It's just seven pounds of fat and water. Fat and water can't fight, right..? If it can, then these other chicks should probably cool it on the low bodyfat approach.

I more than understand the weight class rules, but it seems as if it's turning everyone into full-time bodybuilders and part-time fighters. It can't be all about weight cuts - it's a sport, so skill should be the focus. There's been discussion about the looming weight cut crisis in MMA and I can see it from way out. They'll probably have to restructure the women's classes, or else risk every woman changing classes nonstop, or leaving the promotion or almost dying like Paige Van Zandt.

With all that said, Mackenzie is beautiful and she'd be a great face of the women's division in this post-Ronda era. It's super easy for her to connect with a female fan-base, especially one that's weight-conscious. Think of Gina Carano for crying out loud.

If she can't comply to UFC, I think Mackenzie could make a jump to professional wrestling like Matt Riddle, Brock and Ronda. She would fit in perfectly against the likes of Nicole Matthews, Sassy Stephie and Allie Kat.

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4 hours ago, OscarWinner said:

It's just seven pounds of fat and water. Fat and water can't fight, right..? If it can, then these other chicks should probably cool it on the low bodyfat approach.

I more than understand the weight class rules, but it seems as if it's turning everyone into full-time bodybuilders and part-time fighters. It can't be all about weight cuts - it's a sport, so skill should be the focus. There's been discussion about the looming weight cut crisis in MMA and I can see it from way out. They'll probably have to restructure the women's classes, or else risk every woman changing classes nonstop, or leaving the promotion or almost dying like Paige Van Zandt.

With all that said, Mackenzie is beautiful and she'd be a great face of the women's division in this post-Ronda era. It's super easy for her to connect with a female fan-base, especially one that's weight-conscious. Think of Gina Carano for crying out loud.

If she can't comply to UFC, I think Mackenzie could make a jump to professional wrestling like Matt Riddle, Brock and Ronda. She would fit in perfectly against the likes of Nicole Matthews, Sassy Stephie and Allie Kat.

Yeah its a really interesting topic OscarWinner,  on how most go for the bodybuilder like body.

But it seems like the ideal fighter body in many divisions are kinda long and slender to have that height, but espcially reach advantage, plus the taller fighters tend to have a higher weight on fight night than their average sized opponents.

And ofcoruse there´s some skill too it, but on the height and reach aspect a fighter like the brazilian Jessica Andrade comes to mind, she´s 5´2 / 157 cm, and was earlier in her career in the 135 lbs bantamweight division with mixed results, but has been more succesfull since dropping down to strawweight (115 lbs)

Also I´ll admit, I never saw Gina Carrano fighting.

Oh and  on your starting comment about fat and water cant fight, well Dominick Cruz flat out called Mackenzie a cheater for gaining that weight advantage

 

Oh and yeah I could see Mackenzie down the line jump over to Wrestling.

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From a fighting aspect, coming in that far overweight is a bad look. If you are 7 over at weigh in, lord knows how far over you are on fight night. That’s dangerous for the person who actually did make weight. Now since the beginning of time the fight game has this problem. Dehydrating your body and the likes is not a healthy thing to do. But if you can’t make weight you just have to go up a class. It’s basic. She won’t be able to run through women that are the same weight as her or bigger. At least not as easily as the smaller gals. That’s just how it is. But considering the push they are giving her, all the criticisms of her are completely justified. From a personal standpoint, I like looking at her. 

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Bellator has taken steps to address the weigh cut issue with the hydration checks, but it's far from over. 

Mackenzie may just be built for bantamweight, but we've been seeing an increasing amount of fighters failing to make the strawweight cut, Paige the most notable among them, leading me to think that the division itself isn't too good for these girls, especially given the biological directive that the female body has to retain as much fat as it can.

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Take a note of the date boys, Mackenzie returns to the octagon on october 12th vs. Amanda Ribas in the strawweight division, 115 lbs.

Honestly I´m a little surprised thats its in the 115 lbs division, when taking into account Dern´s past faliures to make weight, and that she just had a kid this summer.

So do we think Mackenzie will make weight?

 

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