Athletes
Mackenzie Dern Has The A-Z Of BJJ At The Ready
Reigning Women’s Strawweight Champion Mackenzie Dern Says Her Jiu-Jitsu Vocabulary Will Prove The Difference-Maker Against Gillian Robertson At UFC 330
The co-main event of UFC 330 in Philadelphia pits two of the best women’s grapplers to ever compete inside the Octagon against one another.
Reigning strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern was a phenom on the mats in her Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling careers, where she captured a string of titles —including world championships— before making the transition to mixed martial arts, where she has claimed a strawweight record five submission victories en route to the undisputed 115-pound title.
On Saturday night in Philly, Dern will take on the most prolific finisher in women’s UFC history. Gillian Robertson boasts 10 UFC finishes to her name, including a record seven submissions.
Now the pair are set to face off in a fascinating battle at Xfinity Mobile Arena, with Dern’s championship gold on the line.
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Speaking ahead of the fight, Dern said that she hopes to use the bout to showcase her elite grappling skills, but admitted that it would be an incredibly tough task to do so on such a big stage in a world championship UFC fight.
“I'm definitely bringing my jiu-jitsu to the sport, but to do it at this high of a level, like championship level, it's super hard,” she told UFC.com.
“I think this is a perfect opportunity to be able to do that, and I'm excited, and that's definitely my goal to do that against Gillian.”
Robertson’s M.O. is to get people to the mat, then finish them on the ground. She’s built a career on it, initially in the flyweight division, but more recently as a strawweight. Dern knows her own capabilities on the ground, but said she isn’t taking anything for granted against a strong, confident finisher like Robertson.
"I feel like her being a 125er who came down, she really found her range and her pressure, and she adapted very well to the strawweight division,” she explained.
Top Finishes | Mackenzie Dern
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Top Finishes | Mackenzie Dern
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“She's definitely someone who I can't be lazy with, with my grappling – I know that she'll jump on my neck. She's not someone who I want to let fall in a good position because I could get submitted, or she could hold out the round, and maybe I could lose a round like that.
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“So I think there's that danger – both by being submitted, and also by losing the fight because of strategy, losing a round and falling back on the points and [it being] hard to make that up.
“Also, her confidence. I mean, she's coming off a five-fight win streak. Everyone knows that confidence, for any athlete in any sport, is a very big key in helping them win. So the fact that she's very confident right now, I know she's gonna come with everything, and she's really feeling this.”
Dern admitted that due to her own tunnel vision as she worked her way to the top of the 115-pound division, Robertson hadn’t really been on her radar, due to her competing in a higher weight, then being ranked below her once she did make the move down.
“Now, on fight week, basically this is like the most I’ve seen of her,” she said.
"Seeing her submissions, and seeing her attack from the bottom, armbars and rear-naked chokes. She looks like she really jumps on you. So I think that her career, being on The Ultimate Fighter, and just getting through it and climbing the ladder, it's been really cool to see her get here and fight for the belt. And I'm excited to share the Octagon with her.”
That excitement comes from Dern’s confidence in her own grappling, and she said that her experience advantage in that realm should hold her in good stead when the action hits the mat on Saturday night.
“I think just the biggest advantage I have with the grappling compared to Gillian, besides experience, [is] I think my jiu-jitsu vocabulary is, I believe, way bigger than hers, you know?” she said.
“I think she has enough to be safe and enough to imply a big amount of danger. But I think if I just throw at her like A and B and C and eventually D, E, F, I have all the way to the end of the alphabet, and more to throw at her, and I think it’ll be tough.
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“I know she's been submitted with leg locks and armbars and chokes. So, I see those openings, and those are things I can throw at her. I mean, I probably know positions that she's never even heard of before, just because I've been doing it since I was three years old, not because she's not good or anything like that. So I think just the amount of options I have that I can throw at her is an advantage compared to her.”
Dern’s journey to the top has come under the tutelage of esteemed coach Jason Parillo, who linked up with Dern when the Brazilian settled at his RVCA Gym in Costa Mesa, California. It took a while for Dern to find the right spot, but once she found Parillo, she knew she was in the right place.
“I went through a couple of coaches when I moved to MMA, just kind of trying to find what was the best fit for me, and then also too, me being the best fit for the gym,” she explained.
“I got asked to leave from a few gyms, and then I knew the guy from RVCA, Pat Tenore, and Parillo was the head coach at RVCA Gym in Costa Mesa. And when I left Black House, I texted B.J. Penn and I talked to Cris Cyborg, and I’m kind of like, ‘OK, I'm looking for coaches, kind of blindly.’
“I have these friends that are champions. Let me get some references, and I asked both of them about Parillo, and they both said that he’s just an amazing coach. And B.J. being a jiu-jitsu guy – the first American to win the jiu-jitsu world championships as a black belt – for him to say that [with] Parillo being a boxing coach, I was like, ‘OK, let’s try this.’”
Dern and Parillo quickly bonded, with the Brazilian entrusting her development, and her career, to the seasoned boxer-turned-coach, who previously helped the likes of B.J. Penn, Tito Ortiz, Cris Cyborg, and Michael Bisping to UFC championship glory before doing the same for Dern last year. He’s also been a valuable sounding board and mentor for matters away from fighting, too, as Dern explained.
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“It’s been like six, seven years, and I mean, we've had a couple losses, but overall, even the losses, you know, he's helped me,” she said. “He knows when to, I guess, lie on the right moments and to tell the truth when he needs to tell the truth. He's gotten me through broken noses, and injuries, and divorces, and you know, coaches – they're way more than just the technique. They're there for you in life, and he's helped me definitely get through all those things."
That relationship has taken Dern all the way to the top of the MMA world. And on Saturday night, she gets the chance to underscore her world class status by turning back one of the most dangerous challengers in the division. And if she has her way, Dern will do it with the talent that got her to dance in the first place – her jiu-jitsu.
“The biggest thing is you never want it to go to a judges’ decision, just because you know that always someone's gonna be like, ‘Well, could have gone the other way,’” she said.
“So definitely with Gillian, especially with her saying that she has better jiu-jitsu for MMA, and she has the most submissions in all the women's [divisions] and I have the most submissions in strawweight. There's that, I guess, a little bit of rivalry.
“We don't have beef, as in we don't like each other, but we do have this competition, competitiveness between us. So to get a submission against her and make her tap would be perfect.”
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!
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