Mackenzie Dern is a second generation BJJ legend and she recently revealed that she expects her daughter to reach the rank of black belt too. It’s going to be pretty hard for her not to fall in love with the sport given the amount of exposure she’s had at such a young age. Not only is her mother one of the best female competitors of all time and a UFC world champion, but her grandfather Wellington ‘Megaton’ Dias is one of the most popular competitors of his generation. Not only was Dias at the very top of the sport during his prime but he’s also continued going longer than anyone else; becoming the first coral belt to compete at the IBJJF World Championship.
When Dern was asked about her daughter Moa getting into the family business, she explained that it’s already happened:
“She does Jiu-Jitsu, she has to!”
Moa is only 6 years old though of course, so she’s really right at the beginning of her Jiu-Jitsu journey. Dern revealed that she already has an eye on the future for her though, even going so far as more than a decade from now:
“I already spoke about the black belts, she has to get them, you understand? She has to defend herself, she has to know how to do it.”
Dern went on to clarify that it isn’t actually about her achieving the same things that she has:
“She doesn’t even have to compete if she doesn’t want to, you understand? But at least train, so she knows how to defend herself if necessary.”
Obviously she would be right there by her side if she does choose to compete in Jiu-Jitsu, just like Megaton was for her over the years. There is one path that Dern hopes Moa doesn’t go down though:
The full interview with Mackenzie Dern where she speaks about her daughter becoming a BJJ black belt was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Alem Do Tatame:
