Fight Coverage
Coach Conversation | Mackenzie Dern vs Gillian Robertson
Xtreme Couture’s Eddie Barraco Discusses Saturday’s UFC 330 Strawweight Title Fight
“At the end of the day, fighting is not easy, but it’s simple.”
There is no better way to sum up the dynamics of a fight because stripped down, there are always only a handful of ways things are going to go, but how we arrive at those outcomes is a complicated, layered, nuanced adventure. When you add in the various additional elements that come with a championship fight, the degree of difficulty when it comes to getting your hand raised increases, but in the end, it’s still just two people stepping into the Octagon and laying everything on the line in hopes of achieving the ultimate success.
Watch This & Every UFC Event On Paramount+
In an effort to better explain the ins and outs of each UFC championship fight, staff writer E. Spencer Kyte sits down with one of the top coaches in the sport to break down the contest with an eye towards identifying the things each combatant does well, how the fight could play out, and the key factors that stand out as the possible deciding elements in the upcoming title clash.
For the first of Saturday’s two championship matchups, Kyte connected with Xtreme Couture coach Eddie Barraco, who will be in Philadelphia cornering Mansur Abdul-Malik, to discuss the talents of Mackenzie Dern and Gillian Robertson and how their strawweight title fight may play out.
BEST TRAITS OF EACH FIGHTER
Mackenzie Dern | As Good As It Gets
Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there`s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world`s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!
Mackenzie Dern | As Good As It Gets
/
Kyte: What’s the best trait of each fighter?
Barraco: They’re both elite grapplers, but in different ways — Dern going the jiu jitsu route with her elite jiu jitsu, and then Robertson with her relentless wrestling; it gets her submissions when she’s on the ground.
MORE UFC 330: Fight By Fight Preview | Fighters On The Rise | Main Event Preview | Dern As Good As It Gets | Machado Garry My Destiny
Kyte: Yeah, skill-for-skill, I don’t think it’s a wash because Mackenzie is a world champion, credentialed grappler and Robertson has largely just been an outstanding grappler in MMA contexts, but I think for MMA, it plays pretty similarly and you can call it even, which makes those secondary skills the part that is most interesting to me. So. it’s the development of Mackenzie’s hands, the grit we’ve seen from her, and with Robertson it is the improvement in her top control and understanding that she’s better doing damage and having the superior position than — she used to chase stuff a lot and end up out of position. Now she’s settled in more and started attacking with strikes more, and that’s been a big difference.
Barraco: I agree. Mackenzie has the submission threats all day, but her boxing and striking has gotten tremendously better since coming into the UFC, and her coach, Jason Parillo, is great at what he does, so she has a great coach in her corner.
PATH TO VICTORY
Kyte: So how do you see each women having their most success and emerging with a win?
Barraco: For Mackenzie, she needs to keep the fight in open space, win the striking exchanges, and use level changes, but strike off them; show the shot or engage in the beginnings of a shot, but I’m coming up striking off that. If she gets taken down, she’s got to attack submissions right away, and then she has to force Robertson to hesitate coming into the clinch, and that’s what I was saying with show the shot and strike off of it — then Robertson doesn’t know whether she needs to engage in grappling or defend the strikes. For Robertson, immediate pressure: get in her face, chain wrestle, force the clinch exchange, be heavy on her, hang on the cage, hang on her arms. If she gets the takedown, stay heavy on top and be in a good position; position first and be heavy on top.
READ: Philly Special | Fabiano Buskei Relishes Being Back In Philadelphia
Kyte: That’s something she’s really worked on.
Barraco: Right.
Kyte: It used to be one of her weaknesses, but she’s really improved it.
Barraco: And don’t go chasing submissions with Mackenzie. I think just being in a good position on the ground, landing damage is plenty for her.
Kyte: Yeah, I agree.
Barraco: It’s weird to say, but I really think with Mackenzie, keeping it in open space and utilizing the striking Parillo has developed with her is gonna be a good route for her.
Mackenzie Dern vs Gillian Robertson Preview | UFC 330
Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there`s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world`s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!
Mackenzie Dern vs Gillian Robertson Preview | UFC 330
/
Kyte: Yeah, it’s absolutely weird to say, but I genuinely agree. It’s not often you wanna tell a multiple-time world champion to “just box; kickbox with her,” but it’s the right thing. It’s one of those deals where if you’re talking with her about it, the sales pitch is that you can probably beat her in a grappling match, but if you have a clear edge somewhere else, let’s play to that. I think I’ve heard John Crouch telling his guys, “Let’s not make this harder on ourselves than we have to.”
MORE UFC 330: Fight By Fight Preview | Main Event Preview | Dern As Good As It Gets | Machado Garry My Destiny
Barraco: Easiest path to victory. What’s our easiest path to victory? Let’s not fight a fight that gives them a chance or plays into what they want to do; that doesn’t make any sense.
Kyte: It still feels weird even though it makes complete sense.
Barraco: It totally does. It’s like “I want Dern to strike… what a minute? Yeah!”
Kyte: Normally you’re not even considering that because she has such an edge in the grappling department and while the striking has gotten better, it’s still — I don’t want to say “sloppy,” but it’s still not necessarily something that is second nature and fluid for her.
Barraco: If she’s fighting a world-class striker, that would never be my advice, but in this one, she’s got the striking edge. Wrestling edge goes to Robertson. I think the grappling — the transitions and being dangerous from all the positions, Dern still has that because of her finishing ability. The cardio edge, I give to Robertson.
Watch This & Every UFC Event On Paramount+
Kyte: That one we’ll get to because that’s something I want to discuss.
Barraco: Okay, great.
X-FACTOR
Kyte: If there is an x-factor here — something that could swing the fight one way or the other — for me it’s that five-round experience that Mackenzie has; she’s been through it. We’ve seen her in competitive fights, even the title win; it’s a hard fight where she’s gotta go 25 minutes, she’s been in a couple other main events prior to that, and to me, that’s the looming, lingering “Can Gillian Robertson go 25 hard minutes if that’s what is called for?” What is it for you?
Barraco: I’m gonna agree. I think the pace and the ability to maintain that pace for the two championship rounds is gonna be a big determining factor. Can Robertson control her in the first three without getting caught? And if she can get it done there, great, but the longer it goes — as far as having time in those rounds previously — we only have one person in there who has been there before.
View Robertson's Athlete Profile
Kyte: It hasn’t been a ton of championship fights, but she’s had five 5-round fights now, and that’s five more than Robertson. I can’t think of the last person that fought for a title that hadn’t headlined before — like where the title fight was their first five-round fight in the UFC. (Note: Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 and Joshua Van before that at UFC 323.) I’ll go down and figure it out because that’s a part of it to me: what’s the success rate of someone where their first five-round fight is a title fight? It’s probably not great would be my guess.
Barraco: That’s a good guess on that. I don’t think the percentage of wins is very high for people where your first time seeing a five-round fight is a title fight. And five is a lot! Five fights at 25 minutes is a lot of experience.
(Note: Over the last five years (2022-2026), there have been 15 such instances and the first-timers are 6-9 overall; better than I anticipated, but still only a 40-percent winning percentage.)
Kyte: And she went the distance in four of them, so she’s logged an hour right there. Your question about “Can Robertson get out early and bank those rounds?” and be able to either survive or show that she can go the full 25 minutes that way is a really interesting wrinkle in that too because those questions are answered for Mackenzie and the later we go, you have to favor the person that has been there, so it creates that dynamic in that path to victory where you said Robertson has to be relentless, but then you’ve also got to manage it a little…
Barraco: Yeah, but can you do it for five rounds? That’s the thing we have to see.
Kyte: Obviously you’re not in her corner, you’re not working with her or anything but when you’re in this position, how to do you find that balance? What are the steps you can take to give yourself the best opportunity to fight to your strengths with that relentlessness while understanding that you have to make sure to have enough to go in four and five?
Gillian Robertson | Submission Showcase
Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there`s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world`s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!
Gillian Robertson | Submission Showcase
/
Barraco: In a perfect situation, without saying she can push the pace for five rounds, you have to be creative if you feel like you can’t, so a lot of “pit stop.” Whether that’s holding her on the cage for a little bit. If you get her down, “pit stop” here for a little bit, hang out before you create some damage, “pit stop” again. Cook a little bit. Coach (Robert) Follis used to say, “Cook the beans!” You don’t have to go crazy all the time. If she can get a takedown, if she can get position, that can be her opportunity to slow down a little, make Mackenzie wear her weight, take the brunt of it while Robertson can just hang out, keep a hold of her. She can even the playing field as far as who is expending the energy.
Kyte: Same as we said with the chasing submissions and everything else: get settled, slow yourself down, make her do the work. That makes sense.
COACHING CURIOSITY
Kyte: If there is something between these two that you’re unsure of or a question you’re looking to have answered, what is it?
Barraco: How is Mackenzie going to defend the wrestling? I’m curious to see what her strategy is because she is a world-class jiu jitsu player, so she’s comfortable there. Is she gonna engage? Is she going to try to hit submissions right away if she gets taken down? I want to see how she does with the wrestling. Some of the other things I’m looking for is can Mackenzie keep open space, keep the center, and have Robertson chasing bad shots? If she does, she can catch her and make her pay for some of those misses, but she’s got to keep her back off the fence and hanging out there. For Robertson, I’m curious to see if she’s going to shoot or what I’d like to see if push her to the cage, get in a clinch, start chain wrestling; create some damage, wear on her and get the takedowns from there rather than shooting in the open.
Kyte: Yeah, she’s not great shooting in open space, especially if she’s stuffed or stung once or twice before; they can be a little telegraphed.
Barraco: I think it’s gonna be more about who does what and who wins in the transitions as opposed to who’s jiu jitsu is better? Who’s wrestling is better? I think whoever transitions better and is able to — again, quoting Follis — “change the race, change the rules of the race.” If Robertson is losing the striking, how is she going to be able to transition and setup something else safely without just shooting in the open?
Kyte: The point about how Mackenzie defends is super-interesting to me because she’s not typically someone that is diving on necks, jumping guillotines; there are some rear-naked chokes, a lot of armbars. So, is she digging underhooks and trying to create space? Is she accepting bottom? Is she pulling guard because she feels comfortable off her back? She’s not gonna do the thing where she grabs a bad guillotine and ends up stuck on bottom with nowhere to go like we see so many people do. How she addresses that is super-interesting because it ties into all the other pieces we’re talking about with the transitions and the chain wrestling and even the conditioning.
This feels like we may get counters to counters to counters on the ground, which would be a lot of fun.
Barraco: Yeah, it should be great.
Kyte: Thanks for doing this, Coach.
UFC 330: Makhachev vs Machado Garry took place live from Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 15, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
Tags