Mackenzie Dern is now at the top of the mountain in the UFC but the newly minted titleholder is prepared for the true grind that now awaits her. This was discussed by the 115 pound champion in the UFC 321 post-fight press conference following her win. Dern bested Virna Jandiroba for the second time to claim the vacant strawweight belt in the Abu Dhabi-based co-main event bout.
It was massive moment for the decorated jiu jitsu player who holds huge championship distinctions in multiple martial arts disciplines now. As she touched on the journey to get here while also realizing that things will get that much more arduous on the road ahead, with video footage provided from MMA Junkie, Dern said,
They say it’s hard to get the belt but it’s even harder to stay at the top and defend it. The hard part starts now, but I’m excited for whoever comes next. I think facing new challengers is going to make me evolve so much as a fighter."
"Grapplers, strikers, all these people studying me—I have to redo myself every single fight so they can never find the right way to beat me."
Mackenzie Dern mentions fighter she is intrigued to defend her title against
Mackenzie Dern had not even left the Etihad Arena yet before expressing thoughts on who she thinks her first title defense will be against. Dern prefaced her comments, at the same UFC 321 post-fight press conference embedded above, by saying that she was not sure how much say she gets as the champion now but is eying former champions and former title challengers alike.
One of these fighters is Tatiana Suarez with Dern indicating she would be intrigued about testing her grappling against someone like Suarez who has such a strong wrestling pedigree.
Zhang Weili was also mentioned by Dern with a bit of an asterisk saying the new strawweight champion is unsure if the former titleholder in that weight class will return. Weili caused the belt to be vacated in the first place as she moves up in an attempt to claim Valentina Shevchenko's flyweight belt at UFC 322 next month.