Not even two years into her professional MMA career and Mackenzie Dern has already missed weight three times.
Prior to joining the UFC, Mackenzie Dern (6-0) failed to make the strawweight limit twice. Despite successfully hitting the mark for her Octagon debut against Ashley Yoder, the decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner has been constantly asked about her ability to make 116 lbs, as she explained at UFC 224 media day.
“I’m on my seventh fight now and I feel like, ‘Man, how long are they going to keep asking me about my weight?’ Every interview, even to my opponent, they ask, ‘You think she’s going to make weight?’ I said, ‘Man, they have so many things they can ask about, they can ask about my father, the fight, my opponent, so many things. They’re always going to ask me about my weight?’”
With quotes like that and an Instagram post promoting a scale during fight week, it seemed as though she was confident about coming in on weight for her sophomore UFC bout against Amanda Bobby Cooper. However, any confidence she may have felt turned out to be unfounded.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiknhxindHZ/?taken-by=mackenziedern
Way over
Roughly 40 minutes into Friday’s early weigh-ins in Rio, Dern stepped onto the scale. Remarkably, she was closer to the flyweight limit than strawweight. She weighed in at 123 pounds, seven pounds over the non-title limit for the weight class.
During her entire weigh-in, her head was glued to the floor. She didn’t look up at the snapping cameras once. After her weight was announced, she briefly paused before making a swift exit to rehydrate at the side of the stage in silence. Judging by that reaction, she already knew she wasn’t going to make weight before she hit the scales.
He opponent, Cooper weighed in 30 minutes later and was 116 lbs. It is understood that the fight will go ahead as a catchweight contest with Dern forfeiting a percentage of her purse to Cooper. Dern will also be exempt from winning any performance bonuses.
Grappling star Mackenzie Dern missed weight for her #UFC224 strawweight bout with Amanda Cooper, she registered 123 pounds on the scale. https://t.co/sus2swXtXy pic.twitter.com/sGvrDkJWOi
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) May 11, 2018
