Mackenzie Dern
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60%Born
1993 (31 years old)
Birth Place
Phoenix, Arizona, USAPosition
Fighter
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UFC Womens
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UFC
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 |  |  |  | UFC Fight Night 211 Dern vs Yan | 01 Oct 22 | |
 |  | | | UFC on ESPN 9 Woodley vs Burns | 31 May 20 | |
 | | |  | UFC 224 Nunes vs Pennington | 12 May 18 | |
 | |  | | Invicta FC 26 Maia vs Niedźwiedź | 08 Dec 17 | |
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Mackenzie Lynne Dern Santos (born March 24, 1993) is an American and Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. She is a former world No. 1 ranked IBJJF competitor, currently ranked 6th among the female divisions. She is an ADCC and no gi BJJ (black belt) World Champion. As of May 23, 2023, she is #7 in the UFC women's strawweight rankings.
Dern was born in Arizona, the daughter of Wellington "Megaton" Dias, a highly decorated grappling competitor himself. As a child, she grew up travelling back and forth between Arizona and her father's native Brazil. Dern is fluent in English and Portuguese. She has stated that Portuguese has become her primary language, explaining that "my Dad and step Mom are both Brazilian. My boyfriend speaks Portuguese. I'm speaking Portuguese more than English. I still have lots of interactions in English of course. But I think in Portuguese, anything to do with fight is all in Portuguese in my mind, I dream in Portuguese."
Dern began training by the age of three and practicing with her father and stepmother who is also a black belt, Luciana Tavares. Mackenzie started competing at a young age, and began competing in the adult divisions at 14 years old. She has won a world championship in every belt level as she progressed to black belt rank, which was awarded to her by her father in December 2012, three months prior to her 20th birthday. She graduated from Ironwood High School in Glendale, Arizona.
Due to her six 1st place finishes at the Asian Open, Mackenzie is the only female Jiu-Jitsu competitor to have won Gold Medals, at Black Belt level, at each of the 5 principal/highest ranking IBJJF Gi Championships - the other events are the Worlds, the Euros, the Pan Ams and the Brazilian Nationals. One of her biggest achievements in BJJ came when she managed to defeat Gabi Garcia despite a huge weight difference, becoming one of the few women to do so.
Dern was married to professional surfer Wesley Santos. They separated in 2022. After going through divorce proceedings, Dern publicly accused Santos of physical abuse.
In February 2019, Dern announced that she had put her MMA career on hold due to pregnancy. Her daughter, Moa, was born on June 9, 2019.
According to Dern, she left Black House MMA after a reported incident concerning her original coach, Juan Gomez, where he got into a physical altercation with her husband over a disagreement about money. However, Gomez disputed money being the reason and subsequently both Dern and Gomez were asked to leave the team.
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2018-2023 |
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| Invicta FC Womens | Win Submission | Invicta FC | 2017 | 1 |
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