Fresh off her latest submission victory, Mackenzie Dern has set her next fight against another BJJ black belt in Virna Jandiroba. The bout has been scheduled for UFC 256, occurring December 12th in Las Vegas. Though we should note that the contracts are not officially signed yet, the fight pairing was reported by MMA Fighting through multiple sources with knowledge of the booking.
Dern has been on a submission tear in the UFC, last finishing Randa Markos with an armbar at UFC Vegas 11. That marked her second first-round submission finish in a row, after dropping a decision loss to Amanda Ribas in October 2019. Dern has 6 pro submission victories in MMA.
Virna Jandiroba is another grappling specialist, having finished 13 fights with a submission. “Caracara” had her latest win in August, finishing Felice Herrig with an armbar of her own. Though she does not have a shelf full of IBJJF medals to match Dern, Jandiroba has definitely proven her jiu-jitsu in the cage.
It’s an interesting matchup when the UFC pits two grapplers against each other, as this sort of thing doesn’t happen that often. Groundwatch will definitely be rating this one highly.
The fight versus Jandiroba will be Dern’s third fight this year, as the UFC continues the trend of rewarding active fighters with more frequent paydays.
In case you missed the armbar win that Mackenzie Dern hit on Randa Markos, here it is:
SIMPLY UNSTOPPABLE.
Never, ever go to the ground with @MackenzieDern 🇧🇷
[ #UFCVegas11 – LIVE on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/pMN6F4Udv4
— UFC (@ufc) September 20, 2020
For more information about UFC 256 and how to watch, go to UFC.com.
