Mackenzie Dern used to be a force to reckon with in the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and she’ll look to recapture some of her former glory when she takes on the dangerous Hannah Cifers, who’s also coming off a loss. In this battle between strawweights, which fighter will come away with the win?
In her first fight since giving birth to her first child, Dern suffered her first loss, when she got edged by Amanda Ribas last October via unanimous decision. Prior to that, Dern started with a 2-0 record in her UFC career, beating both Ashley Roder (split decision) and Amanda Cooper (submission) in 2018. A Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, Dern has plenty of success when fighting on the mat, as she has four submission wins to zero submission losses. McKenzie has also shown willingness to exchange blows, as she is averaging 3.24 significant strikes landed per minute. Although the sample size is small for Dern, her 65 percent significant strikes defense is almost the same as the No. 2 women’s strawweight (Joanna Jedrzejczyk, 65.1%) in that statistical category . Up against a striker in Cifers, the keys to victories for Dern lie in her ability to take the fight to the ground and defend against punches and kicks.
It’s been a rollercoaster ride so far for Cifers since she started fighting in the UFC. Her UFC debut came in 2018, when she was wrecked by Maycee Barber for a TKO loss. What followed was back-to-back wins over Plyana Viana (split decision) and Jodie Esquibel (unanimous decision). In her last fight, Cifer got knocked out by Angela Hill last January. Cifers is a fighter who is not afraid to get hit twice if that meant getting one clean one in. In fact, she is averaging 4.1 significant strikes landed per minute while absorbing 6.59 per minute. Cifers is a much more accurate striker than Dern, as she has connected 48 percent of her strikes, compared to just 33 percent by the latter. Cifer, who keeps a 10-4-0 record, has five wins by way of KO against two losses in that manner. She hasn’t submitted anyone, but has been a victim by that technique once. As a striker, Cifer likes to target her opponents’ upper body, with 46 percent of her strikes landing on that part. Dern might find it tough to bring down Cifer, who boasts of an 80 percent takedown defense.
