UFC star Mackenzie Dern believes her five round experience will help her significantly heading into her UFC 321 title fight.
In the co-main event of UFC 321, Mackenzie Dern will battle Virna Jandiroba for the vacant UFC strawweight championship. This has been a long time coming for Dern and after fighting for years to try and get her way to a title shot, the opportunity has finally arrived - and she's as prepared as one could ever hope to be.
Mackenzie Dern is a great fighter but she's certainly faced a few setbacks in her time. Alas, her experience has worked wonders for her career, and a lot of that has come in five round fights as a result of her headline slots on fight night cards.
In a recent interview, Mackenzie Dern explained why that's going to be really important for her heading into this bout.
Mackenzie Dern recognizes her five-round experience
“I’ve had about four or five five-round fights in the last five years. It changes the game a bit compared to three rounds—you have some rounds where you can feel out and see how your opponent is fighting, find your timing. Three rounds go by so fast; you don’t want to fall behind. But in five rounds, you have 25 minutes to really figure out your opponent and see.”
“We’ve been training hard to make sure we don’t run out of cardio, keep the pace the whole time, but also to have a champion mindset—be able to take time and play smart in the strawweight division.”
