What martial arts does Mackenzie Dern know

Mackenzie Dern is a Brazilian-American MMA fighter who competes in the UFC. However, like many fighters she has been a martial artist a long time before she even thought about turning to MMA. With Dern, her father is the legendary Wellington ‘Megaton’ Diaz, a BJJ black belt who competed well into his 50s.

Because of this, it’s no surprise that Dern would also compete in BJJ and won practically every title going as a black belt, including the coveted Worlds and ADCC belts in the process. With this said, it’s not surprising that Dern did well in MMA. Similarly, it’s understandable that her main style revolves around grappling. In this article, we shall assess her fighting style and look at what martial arts she is best at.

Mackenzie Dern is a BJJ black belt world champion

As mentioned, Mackenzie Dern is very accomplished in the world of BJJ and has been a black belt since she was 19 years old. In fact, she could have had a fairly easy career as a BJJ black belt but eventually moved into MMA. As a black belt, she would often compete in both the gi and no gi. Although gi training is often neglected by MMA fighters for obvious reasons – it does have some advantages, such as making it harder to escape from bottom pins. This is a pretty important skill when it comes to fighting.

Due to her BJJ background, it should come as no surprise that many of her wins have come by way of submission. In the UFC, she has won by rear naked choke, armbar, and kneebar and even many of her decision victories have come from putting people on the ground and then physically dominating them.

One of the perks of being a top BJJ black belt in MMA is that she is also good off her back. Even in modern day MMA, many top fighters still struggle in this position which is understandable. Against Hannah Cifers in 2020, Dern successfully hit a kneebar from a bottom K-Guard position which showed this in practice.

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Mackenzie Dern knows Wrestling

In modern times, BJJ has also incorporated lots of moves from wrestling. This is especially the case for no-gi BJJ which Dern excelled in. A good way of thinking about it is that you can use Judo for stand up in BJJ, and wrestling for stand up in no-gi BJJ. Because of this, Mackenzie Dern is a good wrestler. One of her best wrestling performances came against Nina Nunes in the UFC, where she successfully did a single leg takedown. This immediately fell into an armbar which saw Dern win the fight.

Aside from offensive wrestling, Dern also has the ability to wrestle defensively too. In some cases, she will stay calm and wrestle her way out of bad positions, such as being forced against the cage. Even for a skilled grappler like Dern, being put up the cage and punched isn’t ideal. Here, she usually counters by pummelling for underhooks which give her the inside position. This is sensible and allows her to get out of bad spots. Again, this will go back to her competitive BJJ days when competing in competitions such as ADCC.

Mackenzie Dern knows Judo

As Brazilian Jiu Jitsu descended from Judo, you’d expect Mackenzie Dern to be good at Judo. This assumption would be correct. Sometimes, even if Dern looked to be in a bad spot whilst standing, she could initiate some slick throws. These usually involve inside trips (kouchi gari), uchi mata hip throws, and a blend of wrestling.

What’s most impressive about this is that Judo can be typically different to perform without the gi, so you have to adjust. However, Dern can still pull off throws, sometimes effortlessly. One of the main criticisms of Judo in MMA is that it can be quite risky. For instance, some Judo throws may instantly win matches in a Judo competition, dependent on how they’re scored.

However, in Judo, sometimes people’s throws get reversed or land in a bad spot. Due to her confidence on the ground and in general grappling, this isn’t a concern for Dern. Even if she lands in a bad spot due to a poor takedown, she can still recover. As you can imagine, for women grappling Mackenzie Dern – this is a scary prospect.

Mackenzie Dern uses boxing

As you may have figured, the main fighting style of Mackenzie Dern revolves around grappling. Still, she is pretty solid when it comes to boxing and fighting on her feet. In other words, Mackenzie Dern may not be the best boxer in the world but at least does enough to use it effectively. Interestingly, she has never won by knockout which shows that her boxing isn’t really utilized when fighting. However, she has neither been knocked out either.

In other words, like many grapplers, she does boxing out of necessity. Ideally, Dern would take her opponent down and eventually submit them. Nonetheless, some fighters are very difficult and have good defensive wrestling. This is where Dern will box until the correct opening and opportunity happens whereby she can start to grapple. In this sense, her boxing isn’t too dissimilar to Ronda Rousey who would prefer not to engage in striking but would certainly partake in it if she couldn’t score a takedown.

Conclusion

Make no doubt about it – Mackenzie Dern is an elite grappler and BJJ expert. You could even go as far as to say that she’s a throwback to the previous era when BJJ dominated MMA. Of course, this isn’t tens of years ago though which shows just how good her BJJ is.

At the same time, it would be unfair to paint Dern as a pure grappler. Although BJJ is certainly her strength, she is good on her feet in both offensive and defensive situations. With this said, it makes sense that Mackenzie Dern has enjoyed such a successful MMA career and has risen to the top of the UFC. If we were to nitpick then you could argue that her striking could do with tightening up but even still, this is being pretty harsh. Overall, Mackenzie Dern is the true definition of a mixed martial artist.