Mackenzie Dern found out about UFC title shot via social media
UFC star Mackenzie Dern found out about her UFC 321 title shot against Virna Jandiroba on Instagram.
At UFC 321, Mackenzie Dern will get the opportunity of a lifetime. She will compete against Virna Jandiroba and if she wins, she will become the new UFC strawweight champion. Zhang Weili relinquished the belt in order to pursue a second world title against Valentina Shevchenko, swinging the door wide open for Mackenzie and Virna to get this shot.
Of course, some will question whether or not Dern deserves it, but she’s certainly improved over the course of the last few years. Her most recent outing came back in January, when she was able to submit Amanda Ribas.
While a lot of people are viewing Dern as the underdog, you can bet she’s going to do out there and put forward the best performance she can. As it turns out, though, even she was caught off guard when Dana White made the official announcement.
Dern reveals when she found out about title shot
“[UFC] were kind of talking about the interim belt, and that was maybe three weeks ago, four weeks ago,” Dern said. “They were talking about it, but weren’t sure if they were going to do it. Then [we found out], ‘OK, they’re going to do it, [so] we’ll wait until they announce it.’ And then I found out by Instagram that it was going to be for the actual belt when [UFC] Dana [White] announced it.
“I texted [my manager] Tiki [Ghosn], ‘Wait, is it the real belt or the interim belt?’ [He said,] ‘Oh, it’s the real belt.’ So that was very recent, the change. We were happy with the interim belt — it’s still a belt and would be the next step to getting the [undisputed] belt. But the fact that it’s for the real belt definitely puts an extra happiness and gratefulness on it.”
Quotes via Yahoo Sports
This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM
Topics:
Mackenzie Dern UFC
