A little-known fact about Mackenzie Dern is that before she was ever even a BJJ black belt, she actually had a match with a male Judo black belt as part of a Japanese TV show. The black belt in question is Masumi Yagi, a popular Japanese comedian who is also an experienced Judoka. It’s not something that many people would know given how obscure the match is, but it serves as a very rare example of both different grappling styles and different genders clashing. Although it wasn’t entirely serious given that there were no stakes involved, it’s clear that both Dern and Yagi were putting in full effort in order to win the match.
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Mackenzie Dern vs Male Judo Black Belt
Although the idea of female combat sports athletes competing against men is relatively unheard of in the West, it was a common element of the show and several other female grapplers have done the same as Dern. The match between Mackenzie Dern and Judo black belt Masumi Yagi occurred when she was just 18 years old, while her male opponent was 37 at the time. It was contested over two three-minute rounds and they used the same ruleset as the majority of gi BJJ tournaments. Dern’s father and long-time coach, Wellington ‘Megaton’ Dias, can be seen in her corner and no doubt it must have been just as tense a moment for him as it was for her.
Round One
IIt wasn’t long into the first round before Dern decided to jump to closed guard. She threw up a triangle choke shortly afterward but Yagi was able to maintain his posture and escape, taking up position in Dern’s open guard. Dern used a slick X-guard sweep to put Yagi down but she wasn’t able to come up on top before he stood up and they both remained on the feet. They were reset in a neutral standing position and there wasn’t long left on the clock when Yagi hit a clean throw into kesa gatame. Dern managed to work her way around behind him and take his back, but the round ended just a few seconds later.
Round Two
There was much less time on the feet in round two between Dern and Yagi, as he landed another throw into kesa gatame early on. Dern did the same thing again and worked her way round to his back, but this time Yagi decided to stand up while Dern had her hooks in. He tried to shake her off in a four-point position before dropping to the ground and quickly turning to face her in closed guard. Dern was able to wrestle up and Yagi disengaged to force another reset in neutral, but Dern was quicker this time as she launched into a flying armbar.
Yagi lowered Dern to the ground and kept her stacked, eventually managing to free his arm and stand in Dern’s guard. Dern held both sleeves and landed an overhead sweep straight into mount, briefly controlling Yagi before she sat into an armbar from the top. Yagi was able to scramble to top position and pull his arm free, disengaging once again to stay safe. Dern held on to a leg for a moment but Yagi dropped on to her and into her closed guard, finishing out the match there.
The full footage of the match between Mackenzie Dern and the male Judo black belt was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Kokokushibol:
