Mackenzie Dern

About Mackenzie Dern

Mackenzie is a Huntington Beach, CA-based professional mixed martial artist and highly decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner who competes in the UFC women’s strawweight division. She is of Brazilian heritage.
The daughter of renowned grappler Wellington “Megaton” Dias and raised partly by her black-belt stepmother Luciana Tavares, she grew up traveling between Arizona and Brazil, becoming fluent in both English and Portuguese. She began training BJJ at age three at her father’s academy and was competing in adult divisions by 14; her father promoted her to black belt in December 2012, shortly before her 20th birthday.
Mackenzie graduated from Ironwood High School in Glendale, Arizona. She built one of the most impressive female grappling résumés in the sport’s history. She won world titles at every belt level, became a former world No. 1 ranked IBJJF competitor, and is the only woman to capture black-belt gold at all five major IBJJF gi championships (Worlds, Europeans, Pan-Ams, Brazilian Nationals, and Asian Open). She also claimed ADCC and IBJJF No-Gi world championships.
After establishing herself as an elite submission specialist, she transitioned to mixed martial arts in 2016.She made her professional MMA debut that year and joined the UFC in March 2018. Known for her elite ground game, Dern has compiled a professional record of 16-5 with eight submission victories (the most in UFC women’s strawweight history) and multiple post-fight bonuses. In October 2025 at UFC 321 she captured the vacant UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship with a five-round unanimous decision over Virna Jandiroba. As of mid-2026 she remains the reigning champion and a mother to her daughter Moa.
She has publicly confirmed having breast implants (silicone). In a 2024 interview, she discussed undergoing the procedure, noting that many female fighters have them, that they are very durable based on testing, and that she checked with a doctor about continuing to compete in MMA afterward. She has mentioned some anxiety about the possibility of them being damaged in fights but has continued competing with them, including fighting roughly four months after giving birth while still breastfeeding.


Mackenzie Lynne Dern (born March 24, 1993) is an American 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.