Mackenzie Lynne Dern, also known as Mackenzie Dern is an American born Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and mixed martial arts fighter. She is notable for being the No. 1 ranked female black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu as well as for her 2017 victory over Katherine Roy in the Legacy Fighting Championship.
Currently, she is signed to UFC under the Strawweight division. She is 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) tall in height with 56 kg body weight.
The significant source of Dern’s income is her professional MMA fighting career. Presently, she is signed to UFC. In her first UFC match, she took home $50,000. Similarly, she made $29,000 to show, $29,000 win bonus and $3,500 fight week incentive pay from her second UFC bout at UFC 224 but was fined $13,050 for missing weight.
As of 2018, Dern has not revealed her exact figure of salary and net worth. But looking at her successful career, she might have amassed tremendous sum as she has professionally fought at various events.
Mackenzie Dern, 26, is married to Wesley Santo who is a professional surfer. The couple was first seen together in mid-2018. Dern revealed that she lost 20 thousand followers after she revealed that she is married to Wesley and is pregnant with their first child.
The UFC fighter gave birth to a daughter Moa on June 9, 2019. She posted the picture of her daughter on June 10 and wrote:
'Our daughter, Moa, is here! June 9th at 8:25pm! A little late, stubborn, american/brazilian, beautiful, perfect, God’s gift and our family’s biggest pride!
Mackenzie Dern and husband Wesley Santo with their newly born daughter Moa SOURCE: Daily MailEarlier, she was rumored to be dating Marcus Buchecha Almeida. The pair was spotted in parties, hanging out, as well as sometimes Marcus popped in Dern’s own Instagram stories but separated in 2018.
She was also engaged to her fiancé, Augusto Tanquinho Mendes. The two were widely known Jiu-Jitsu couple around. Later Dern and Tanquinho called off their engagement and parted way, without revealing a reason for their separation.
Mackenzie Dern is a native of Phonix, Arizona, born on the 24th of March 1993. She was raised by her father, Wellington Dias, a highly decorated grappling competitor himself and her step-mother, Luciana Tavares, a black belt holder. She has two half-siblings: Korah and Merrick.
Following her parent's footsteps, Dern began training by age three. Further, she started competing at a young age and started off competing in the adult division at her fourteen.
Dern has earned a world championship in every single belt level as she proceeded to black belt rank, which was awarded to her by her father in December 2012. She graduated from Ironwood High School in Glendale, Arizona.
She is the only female Jiu-Jitsu competitor to have won six gold medals at Black Belt level, at each of the 5 principal/highest ranking IB JJD Gi Championships – the other events are the Brazilian Nationals, the Euros, the Worlds, and the Pan Ams.
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On 22nd of July 2016, Mackenzie Dern made her professional MMA career debut at Legacy FC 58 against Kenia Rosas. She won the fight via unanimous decision. In her second bout, she defeated Montana Stewart at Legacy FC 61 on 14th October of the same year.
Prior to signing with Invicta Fighting Championship, she had two more fights against Katherine Roy and Mandy Polk at LFA 6 and LFA 24 respectively. She won both fights.
On 8th December 2017, she made her Invicta debut at Invicta FC 26 against Kaline Medeiros. She set her victory via an armbar in the third round.
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On 3rd March 2018, Dern made her UFC debut at UFC 222, where she faced Ashley Yoder. She won the fight via split decision in round three.
At UFC 224, on 12th May 2018, Dern defeated Amanda Cooper via rear-naked choke submission in round one. However, she was fined 30% of her pursue because she missed weight as she weighed at 123 pounds, 7 pounds over the strawweight non-title fight upper limit of 116 pounds.
Dern fought against Amanda Ribas at UFC Fight Night: Joanna vs. Waterson on October 12 and faced the first loss of her career. She is expected to fight Hannah Cifers on May 30, 2020, at UFC Fight Night 176.
