UFC Fight Night Recap: Trilogy Brewing?

After a packed card with plenty of upsets, the main card being the rematch between Amanda Ribas and Mackenzie Dern did not disappoint. In thrilling fashion, Dern was able to redeem herself from their prior meeting in 2019. This time around, Dern won in a submission byway of an armbar. The fight was called at 4:56 of round number three. As previously discussed, Dern’s key to victory was her strong Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background. The first two rounds was more of the typical fallout between two great fighters, with most of the duration spent trading strikes and clinch work in certain instances. Once round three started, Dern made it a point of emphasis to start attacking with her ground game, which led to only one successful takedown. Unfortunately for Amanda, Mackenzie only needs that one successful takedown to end the night, which she did a few short minutes after.

This now begs the question, do we see a trilogy fight? With her comeback from 2019, they have each beat eachother once, which in the sport of MMA they can’t seem to leave it as such. With both of the fighters being 31, it is possible that they could square off one more time before they hang up their gloves. However, with Mackenzie’s second straight win, she may be on to a potential title shot now that she will most likely be a top ten fighter in the strawweight division after the new rankings come out. Time will tell what both their futures hold, but for now UFC fans can get excited for UFC 311 on Saturday, January 18th headlined by Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan.

Liam Crowley

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