Scouting Report: Mackenzie Dern

Mackenzie Dern

Born: March 24, 1993 (Age: 29)
Division: Strawweight
Height: 5’4”
Reach: 63”
Record: 12-2 (7-2 UFC)
Association: RVCA
Stage of Career: Prime

Summary: Dern has perhaps the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills in all of women’s mixed martial arts. She can sweep off her back, fluidly and quickly advancing position before finishing with a myriad of submissions, not merely with rear-naked chokes and armbars but through attacks on the lower body—kneebars, for instance. Unfortunately for Dern, getting the fight to the ground has often proven difficult, as Dern’s wrestling is severely lacking. She is intelligent and has managed to get the fight to the mat by outwitting opponents, but this approach only works up to a point. On her feet, Dern has technical boxing, highly effective leg kicks and a dangerous overhand right, but her lack of hand speed makes contact difficult. She has mediocre defense at best, allowing opponents to hit her with far too much regularity.

STRIKING

• Stance: Orthodox.
• Hand Speed: Well below average.
• Jab: Passable. While the technique is there, it is slow and telegraphed, thus making it easy to avoid.
• Cross: Competent, with solid technique and likely some power, but it lacks speed.
• Left Hook: Rarely throws it.
• Overhand Right: Easily her best punch, it has proper arc and rotation with reasonable speed and genuine power, as evidenced by her knockdown of Amanda Bobby Brundage.
• Uppercuts: Does not throw them.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Throws punches in bunches and does so frequently.
• Favorite Combinations: The one-two, which is competent but lacks speed.
• Leg Kicks: Solid in terms of technique, speed and power.
• Body Kicks: Rarely throws them.
• Head Kicks: Clear area of weakness. She does not plant the rear foot properly behind her, leaving it too far forward while leaning back. It leads to her being thrown off-balance and falling down, even without any contact.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.

Dern has technical boxing and a shockingly dangerous overhand right, which she has sometimes used to great effect. However, her effectiveness is blunted by her slow hands. Even when the technique and power are there, she still cannot touch the opponent—a reality only worsened by the fact that some of her punches are also telegraphed. She has powerful and effective leg kicks at her disposal, but the less that is said about her head kick the better. Dern has large defensive holes she has yet to address, with virtually no head movement. She lifts it too high, causing it to snap back from punches. She does laterally shuffle away from power and uses feints nicely.

CLINCH

• Physical Strength: Clearly able to bully other fighters in terms of raw strength, though rarely enough to get a takedown.
• Technique: Average, as she does not fight hard for underhooks and could well be taken down if not for fear of submissions from her back.
• Knees: Rarely throws them, focusing instead on takedowns.
• Elbows: Never uses them.
• Defense Against Knees and Elbows: Difficult to tell, since opponents try to avoid takedowns and gain separation.

Dern focuses on grinding for takedowns in the clinch, eschewing the kind of striking in close quarters that could aid her efforts. While physically strong, she struggles for underhooks, making takedowns difficult to achieve.

GRAPPLING

• Wrestling from a Shot: Poor due to dreadful technique, with her head too far to the side and back while bent over 90 degrees and going for the leg rather than hips. Can briefly muscle it through to completion on occasion but cannot maintain it with any regularity.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Vastly better technique than her wrestling from a shot and possesses plenty of strength, but she also struggles to generate takedowns.
• Takedown Defense: Decent, but she could probably be taken down by grapplers who were unafraid to engage her on the ground. Amanda Ribas hit her with a beautiful harai-goshi and did so quite easily.
• Ability to Return to Feet: Impossible to tell since she prefers grappling on the floor and because opponents, even accomplished grapplers like Ribas and Virna Jandiroba, would rather engage her on the feet.
• Submissions: Perhaps the single-best Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner in women’s mixed martial arts. She owns a tremendous array of quick, tight, technical maneuvers—not only armbars and rear-naked chokes but kneebars, too.
• Defense and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Excellent. She uses triangle and armbar attempts to sweep, which are great tactics.
• Top Control: Fair.
• Ground-and-Pound: Limited and weak. She usually focuses on using her world-class Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills instead.

Dern might be the premier Brazilian jiu-jitsu player in MMA. She is fluid and effective while advancing position, with tight, technical submissions that do not allow the opponent space. These submissions come in a variety of forms, from beautiful armbars and rear-naked chokes to kneebars. However, Dern struggles to get fights to the ground, as she is simply not a strong wrestler. Some opponents foolishly follow her there to procure top position and pay the price, as Dern can easily use triangle and armbar attempts from her back to sweep.

INTANGIBLES

• Athleticism and General Physical Strength: She marries good strength with fairly average athleticism.
• Cardio: Can fight effectively and energetically for all three or even five rounds but definitely slows down some with each passing stanza.
• Chin: Suspect, as she has been rattled by relatively weak shots.
• Recuperative Powers: Average.
• Intelligence: For a fighter who lacks takedowns and has to rely on tricks to get the battle to the ground, she is quite clever and adept at doing so.