This article is part of our Craig Jones Invitational 2024 coverage. To get live results, play by play, and commentary, we’ll have a live updates article running all weekend.
Mackenzie Dern was asked about the match between Craig Jones and Gabi Garcia recently and she gave her honest thoughts on the pairing. Dern is in a unique position to give some insight into the superfight as well, as she is one of the few women who has ever been able to beat Garcia before. She achieved that feat when Garcia was right at the peak of her powers as well, as Dern ended her 6-year unbeaten streak. The weight difference between them was gigantic back then and although Garcia will also enjoy a size advantage against Jones, it will be nowhere near as big as it was against Dern.
That size difference is one of the first things that Mackenzie Dern honed in on when she was asked about the superfight between Gabi Garcia and Craig Jones too:
“You know, I actually haven’t seen like the comparison size-wise, them next to each other. I remember Gabi is really, really big but Craig Jones… I’m not remembering his size compared to her. But I really think that if he doesn’t take care she can just like hug his head and put her weight on him and it will be really hard for him.”
She’s not wrong either, there are plenty of examples of bigger competitors dominating smaller ones positionally and there’s a reason that most absolute champions are from the heavier weight classes. There is another physical advantage that obviously tips in Jones’ favor though, and Dern pointed out that too:
“Of course he’s a guy, so I’m interested to see how that will be. I think obviously too if she messes up some position he can catch her back or submit her but yeah, for sure I think it’s not like an easy fight for him at all. I’m excited…”
Her assessment of the match seems pretty accurate on first look, and it makes sense that she might have given it some thought already. That’s because the long-awaited intergender superfight between Jones and Garcia is taking place at the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational, and Dern is also taking part in the event in another superfight. It will be the first time that she has competed in professional grappling for 7 years, and she will be facing Ffion Davies in an amazing comeback match. Although Dern is taking on a huge challenge in her superfight, she clearly has a lot of respect for Garcia facing one of her own head-on:
“Gabi is really forward. She’s out there, she’s courageous and stuff like that. We train and we spar with people, we spar with the guys in training but it’s totally different when it’s like in the fight in competition.”
Gabi Garcia shared the clip of Mackenzie Dern discussing her upcoming superfight with Craig Jones in a recent post to her official Instagram account:
