Mackenzie Dern was inspired by BJJ legend Royce Gracie.
Long before her UFC debut in 2018, the world jiu-jitsu champion knew that it was her fate to represent the BJJ sport on the biggest stage of MMA. Today, the Phoenix native has been fighting 15 times in his UFC career and is currently sitting as a sixth place competitor in the women’s straw weight category.
Dern believes she owes some of the successes to Gracie.
“Glacy was one of my biggest influences,” Dern told MMA Junkie. “Now, I’m going to go to MMA,” I thought. UFC 1 was crazy. They started with jiu-jitsu. It gave me courage. I really felt the courage to do that, as there were no female jiu-jitsu representatives in the UFC or MMA. I then took on the responsibility of representing Jiu-Jitsu for women in MMA. ”
For many, Gracie was her first introduction to Jiu-Jitsu. The Brazilian, who made his promotional debut at his first UFC event in 1993, became his first UFC tournament champion by submissioning three opponents overnight.
Gracie holds the record for most tournaments and longest Finishing Streaks that have won in UFC history, and has submitted 11 straight opponents. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in November 2003.
Mackenzie Dern wants to be like Charles Oliveira
However, Gracie wasn’t Dern’s only source of inspiration.
“And Charles Oliveira – meeting him, he’s my biggest inspiration,” added Dern. “I’m just trying to catch him! He’s the most submissive and the most bonus. I want to be like him. His career took a while and he’s been injured, but I’m following his career.
He was short against Ilia Topuria at UFC 317, but he would not deny Oliveira’s status as one of the best fighters the sport has ever seen. Do Bronx’ cleaned up 20 of his 23 opponents within the Octagon, becoming the most prolific finisher in UFC history.
Although we still haven’t seen the next thing for Darn, she is currently sitting in back-to-back victory after bases on both Loopy Godines and Amandari Bass on her latest outing. Once she gets hope, Darn has the opportunity to bending her BJJ skills against top-ranked candidate Verna Jandilova.