It was an easy night at the office for Mackenzie Dern in her first defense of the UFC women’s strawweight championship, defeating Gillian Robertson via unanimous decision to retain the gold in the UFC 330 co-main event.
“I’m super happy. My first title win, I got taken down a lot of times. I worked my wrestling, become more well-rounded,,” Dern said. “…I tried to get the submission, but couldn’t get it. I came close!”
Dern’s dominating control began right from the get-go, as she overwhelmed Robertson in the opening frame. In fact, Robertson only landed a couple of strikes and had both of her takedown attempts stuffed. Dern, meanwhile, got the fight to the ground and nearly scored a finish with her submission attempts.
Round two played out very similarly, with even more top control time from Dern. Robertson scored a reversal at one point, getting control for a little less than a minute, but it was clearly not enough.
Robertson’s boxing and clinch work was more on display in the third round, but Dern got the fight back to the ground and put her jiu-jitsu masterclass abilities on display. Dern then put her improved striking on display in the fourth before scoring another takedown and threatening with a choke and an armbar again.
Robertson had a burst of energy in the fifth round, outlanding in terms of strikes and scoring her own takedown, but it wasn’t enough.
This marked Dern’s first defense of the title since winning it against Virna Jandiroba at UFC 321.
