Mackenzie Dern had a huge fight against Jessica Andrade at UFC 295 on November 11th, 2023 and unfortunately she ended up suffering the first TKO loss of her professional MMA career. It was a huge opportunity for both women, as they were sitting just outside the very top of the strawweight division and a win would set them up for a run at the title. Dern had to make some changes ahead of the fight after RVCA closed and she put together a training camp herself instead of using that gym. It seems as though that didn’t pay off, as this fight was the first time that Dern had been finished since she made the transition to MMA back in 2016.
Dern came out strong against Andrade and she even managed to land a few good shots on the feet, but Andrade is simply the far more experienced striker. Andrade was winning the exchanges and the power difference between the two women became clear as the fight went on. Dern didn’t ever really threaten to take the fight to the ground either, which would have been where she would have enjoyed the biggest technical advantage. As the fight stayed on the feet coming into the second round, the damage was accumulating and Dern was getting dropped when Andrade landed cleanly.
Dern stayed on the ground to try and encourage Andrade to engage with her, but she got stood back up and Andrade continued winning the striking battle. After one more knockdown by Andrade, the referee intervened to wave the fight off and prevent Mackenzie Dern from receiving more damage at UFC 295. It was a good fight and Dern definitely left it all in the cage, but ultimately she wasn’t able to play to her biggest advantage and was left trying to keep up with Andrade’s striking. That’s a recipe for disaster for most women on the planet, as Andrade is technically sound with an incredible amount of power compared to everyone else in the strawweight division.
UFC 295 Full Results
Alex Pereira defeats Jiri Prochazka via TKO – Elbows (Round 2, 4:08)
Pereira wins the vacant UFC Light-heavyweight World Championship
Tom Aspinall defeats Sergei Pavlovich via KO – Punches (Round 1, 1:09)
Aspinall wins the vacant UFC Interim Heavyweight World Championship
Jessica Andrade defeats Mackenzie Dern via TKO – Punches (Round 2, 3:15)
Benoit Saint-Denis defeats Matt Frevola via KO – Head Kick and Punch (Round 1, 1:31)
Diego Lopes defeats Pat Sabatini via KO – Punches (Round 1, 1:30)
Preliminary Card
Steve Erceg defeats Alessandro Costa via Decision – Unanimous (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Loopy Godinez defeats Tabatha Ricci via Decision – Split (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
Mateusz Rebecki defeats Roosevelt Roberts via Submission – Armbar (Round 1, 3:08)
Nazim Sadykhov v Viacheslav Borshchev ends in a Draw – Majority (28-29, 28-28, 28-28)
Jared Gordon defeats Mark Madsen via TKO – Elbow and Punches (Round 1, 4:42)
John Castaneda defeats Kang Kyung-ho via Decision – Unanimous (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Joshua Van defeats Kevin Borjas via Decision – Unanimous (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Jamall Emmers defeats Dennis Buzukja via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 0:49)
The full UFC 295 event replay, including Mackenzie Dern suffering her first TKO loss, is available to watch on UFC Fight Pass.
