Mackenzie Dern Discusses Decision To Stay At Strawweight Despite Weight Cut Issues
Mackenzie Dern is sticking with her current weight class despite having issues with cutting weight.
In her latest fight against Amanda Cooper at the UFC 224 pay-per-view event from Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Dern missed weight by weighing in at 123 pounds for the fight that was supposed to take place in the strawweight (116 pounds max.) division.
There were a lot of people criticized her for doing so as it was a bad weight cut.
Dern picked up a first-round submission win over Cooper. The popular but now controversial prospect, who holds a 7-0 record in professional MMA, made her promotional debut against Ashley Yoder at UFC 222, where she scored a split decision win.
Following the fight, she stated that she thinks her issues come from the fact that she only had to cut weight a few times during her pro-MMA career.
In a recent interview, Dern stated that she plans to work with the nutritionists and experts at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada in hopes of helping her cut weight to compete at the weight class.
”Everyone here agrees I have a body type that fits at strawweight, in the category that I am, so the plan is to continue in it,” Dern told Combate in Brazil. “But we want to diet and train so that I do not have to cut so much weight, I’ll cut very little. After the fight, I will not go up that much.
“Regardless of what will be decided on the weigh-in, whether or not it will return for the afternoon, it will not change my situation much, because, the way they want me to be the best possible athlete, it will be a very quiet thing.”
“I’m learning here every day, every day I learn something different from my body that I did not even know, things that get in the way of my cut, that I had difficulty due to the way I cut,” Dern explained. “Now that I’m working with the UFC, I’m going to come back here every four weeks, take the tests to see how my body is reacting. But otherwise my workout will continue normal.”
