Ronda Rousey put women's mixed martial arts oš²n the map. Without her, it's highly unlikely women would have ever fought on big league shows. Before Rousey entered the sport, she was a judo wizard whoĀ ended up winning a bronze medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics to become the first Amerš ican female to medal in the sport.Ā
Now, a š¤”new female is on the rise and looking toš become the new face of the sport.
Mackenzie Deš“rn is the best female JiuĀ Jitsu practitioner in the world todayš. She is the No. 1 ranked female Brazilian JiuĀ JitsuĀ black belt by theĀ International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation She's also an ADCCĀ (Abu DhabiĀ Combat Club)Ā Submission WrestlingĀ World ChampionĀ and a no giĀ BJJĀ (black belt) World Champion.Ā
The MMA Lab fighter made the move to MMA in July is 2-0 with one win by submission. She returns to the cage on Friday night for Legacy Fighting AllianceĀ when she goes up against Katherine Roy. Many have already startš ed the comparisons of Dern to the former UFC women's bantamweight champion. She respects what Rousey did beforeą¶£ her, but plans on knocking that door down and becoming bigger than Rousey ever was.
"I definitely think her personality is very strong," Dern told Fightful.Ā "I think that a lot of her fights she had the intimidation factor. Of course, sheās a great athlete. It was a very big advantage for her too. Sheās very intimidating and going aggressive. Not that the girls were scared of her, but itās like if she got your arm, maybe they were like āOh, shoot, she gets everyoneās arm. No way, Iām going to get outā.
"With me itās different. I donāt think people are so intimidated by me. Iām always smiling to everyone. Iām not the scariest person. I donāt know if Iāll have so many submissions or finish fights in 15 seconds. I definitely think there is only one Ronda Rousey but I think I have everything to be as big and bigger than what she has done. If I can put my ji-jitsu and just be as dominant, winning all of my fights and trying to be a good inspiration and a good role model. I definitely think I have everything to be bigger than everything she has done for women so far. I hope to do even more and add to everything sheās done but with my own style, my own personality, my own flavor."
While she isn't in the UFC yet, DernĀ plans on doing a couple differentš¹ JiuĀ Jitsu tournaments and vows to make her octagon debut in the latter half of 2017.
"In the UFC, for sure," Dern stated.Ā "Maybe one or two fights. My goal is to stop ji-jitsu at the worlds this year and just do the ADCC (defending champion) which is every two years. Iād like to defend my title at the ADCC in September. After the worlds, maybe in between June and September have a fight and then after September, have another fight. It all just depends when we decide to go to the UFC. If itās after this fight, if Iāll do one more. Everything just depends but definitely in the UFC with a win there too."