Mackenzie Dern recently spoke about the prospect of fighting Zhang Weili and although fans might think she’s ready, she doesn’t seem to agree. Dern has been fighting in the UFC strawweight division for over 7 years now and although she’s had her share of setbacks, she’s still been steadily working her way up the rankings. She’s inside the top 5 and has been given her first title-shot against Virna Jandiroba at UFC 321. It’s a huge opportunity for both women in fact, as neither of them have held a title before and the one they’re fighting for is currently vacant after Weili decided to move up to fight for the flyweight belt.
Dern must be feeling confident as she already holds a win over Virna Jandiroba, but a lot of time has passed since then and both women have improved. No matter who wins, Weili will still be looming large over the champion because they’ll be holding a title she never actually lost. When Weili came up in a recent interview with MMAFighting, Dern was clearly impressed by the champion’s skills:
“I definitely think that if Weili was champion right now of our division, and I mean, obviously, I wouldn’t say no to a title shot, but I don’t think I’d be ready to fight Weili right now at this moment of my career… But I do think that if I do win the belt and then whatever, if we were to fight like at the White House or something in June, I feel like I’d be way more ready and prepared to fight her. I know it’s like okay, it’s just like… six months or eight months difference. How much better do you think you’re going to get in eight months? But I think just winning the belt, there’s a confidence part that you get from that, and it’s just more training and more time.”
Dern went on to explain that she sees Weili leaving the division as a positive thing for the growth of it, but she’ll still be happy to welcome her back:
“She was just so dominant in the strawweight division. I really just feel like this is gonna get all of us a little bit more uplifted. Like, we kind of get re-energized, a little bit more confidence in the whole division, kind of see different matchups and all of us just maturing differently as fighters, and I feel like either me or Virna (Jandiroba), we would be more prepared to fight her if she does decide to come back down right away. The main goal is to beat Virna, win the belt, and then we’ll see if (Weili) comes back down or not. I think if she does come back down, me or Virna will be ready to fight her. And if not, it’ll be sad, but the strawweight division is growing so much, there’s so many tough girls coming up that people aren’t going to be bummed.”
The full interview with Mackenzie Dern where she discussed the prospect of fighting Zhang Weili was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of MMAFighting:
