With her life under control, the Huntington Beach strawweight feels able to control Saturday’s fight in Abu Dhabi as she looks to avoid a three-fight skid.
As MMA fans tune in Saturday for a nationally broadcast UFC card from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, they’ll see the punches and kicks and knees and various submission attempts they’ve come to expect.
What they won’t see is the other fight. For all the physicality of this grueling combat sport, an occasionally challenging equal is the mental toll.
Life outside the Octagon, as in all walks of life, has its challenges. Even inside the cage, in the middle of a 15-minute fight with a title shot in the balance, the toughest opponent could be that complex 3-pound organ between the ears.
Looking to avoid her unprecedented third consecutive defeat, Mackenzie Dern feels like she finally has everything aligned going into Saturday’s strawweight tussle with Loopy Godinez.
“I realized, like, for the girls in the top five, you know, the champions, it comes down to little things,” Dern said in a Zoom interview from Abu Dhabi. “Control your emotions, seeing what’s going on, fighting against your opponent, not fighting against yourself.”
Dern chalks up those deficiencies as part of the reasons for her last loss, an entertaining back-and-forth scrap against Amanda Lemos at UFC 298 on Feb. 17 at Honda Center in Anaheim.
Even with just four week’s notice, the Huntington Beach 115-pounder couldn’t resist answering the call and taking the fight in her backyard without a full camp. Lemos, who was coming off her own loss in a lopsided unanimous decision against champion Zhang Weili, walked away with the unanimous-decision victory, but Dern didn’t see herself necessarily losing, especially not because of her technique.
“Lots of times I’m in the middle of the fight and I’m fighting against myself, you know? I’m like, ‘OK, what am I going to do? Am I going to do this?’” Dern said. “I need to think like, ‘I’m going to beat her. I want to get her to go here, because I want to hit her here.’ You know, the focus is on her. And all the time, I’m always focusing on me in the fight. They’re fighting against me, and I fight against me.”
Having lost three of her last four fights, each loss has cost her a rise in the rankings and a potential championship bout. The easy fallback for the former Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion was to view her losses as professional shortcomings due to a need to improve in the cage. Her boxing wasn’t good enough, she reasoned. Her wrestling wasn’t good enough.
But Dern knew there was more impeding her progress. She began to focus on herself and allow everything to align.
“I have a psychologist that’s helping me, first with my life, and once I start to get the maturity to control that in my life, it’s way easier for me to control my fight,” Dern said.
With her personal life settled, having remarried after a contentious divorce, Dern (13-5) is hopeful for better all-around performance against Godinez (18-8). Her Mexican-Canadian opponent is also coming off a loss – via unanimous decision to Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Virna Jandiroba in March – that snapped a four-fight winning streak.
Dern, 31, is profoundly respectful of the 30-year-old Godinez, from her athleticism to her coming-forward aggressive style to her striking and wrestling, and says their bout is “going to be like fireworks.”
“I really think, you know, we both kind of correct our mistakes,” Dern said. “She just lost to a jiu-jitsu girl, which is good for me in one way. Like I see a good path there for me. But, yeah, this isn’t going to be an easy fight, but I think we’ll be fine. I think the fans are not going to want to miss it.”
Dern made the trip to United Arab Emirates with two important people in tow.
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The first is longtime striking coach Jason Parillo, with whom she has forged a bond that goes beyond the gym. With her life in disarray, Dern couldn’t fully commit to what Parillo demanded.
While they did train together for her Lemos fight, he wasn’t in her corner. Reunited and together in Abu Dhabi, Dern gushes about the comfort factor and the confidence Parillo instills as they prepare for Godinez and a run for the belt.
“He was kind of wanting certain stuff from me that I wasn’t able to give at the time. You want to … be training with a mindset, and my mind wasn’t there, you know?” she said. “So I needed that takeaway that I didn’t want to disappoint him. And at the same time, we kept our friendship. And, yeah, it’s really good to be back, and that’s why I’m feeling so good for the fight, because I feel like I’m at a totally new place.”
Her other companion is her daughter Moa. Not only does the 5-year-old bring a sense of normalcy and routine to the trip, but she gets to see where her mom first flourished and became an international sensation.
In 2015, Dern had already won the Under 55kg gold at the Abu Dhabi World Cup. In the absolute semifinals, she defeated Gabi Garcia, who at more than 200 pounds held an 80-plus pound weight advantage over Dern, before going on to win the final.
“Abu Dhabi has such a special place in my heart. I’m feeling so good,” said Dern, who arrived there two weeks early in order to acclimate. “And to be able to bring my Moa, for her to be able to experience the vibes here and different cultures and to see kind of what Mom’s work is, what kind of experiences my work, my job, is giving to us. It’s such a blessing.”
When: Saturday
Where: Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
How to watch: prelims (9 a.m., ESPN2/ESPN+); main card (noon, Ch. 7/ESPN+)
(@mackenziedern)