UFC women’s strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern said that she is open to fighting UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey at some point.
Dern is coming off her first title defense, a whalloping over Gillian Robertson at UFC 330. For her next bout, Dern will likely take on former UFC women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili in what will be, by far, her toughest test to date at 115 lbs.
While Dern is absolutely not looking past Zhang or any of the other top women’s strawweight fighters, she can’t help but look forward to a potential superfight against Rousey, the biggest star in women’s MMA history.
Mackenzie Dern Interested in Fighting Ronda Rousey
Speaking to US Weekly, Dern said that she is open to fighting Rousey one day, even if it’s just an exhibition bout.
“Ronda Rousey is a lot bigger, but it would have been amazing to do like an exhibition match with her,” Dern said.
As Dern noted, Rousey has fought the majority of her MMA career as a bantamweight (135 lbs), and in her last fight, she beat Gina Carano at featherweight (145 lbs). The odds of her ever making 115 lbs are slim to none, so it would have to be Dern who moved up in weight to fight her.
Dern has competed at 125 lbs in the past, but if she were to ever fight Rousey, she would have to move up to 135 lbs, at minimum, which likely wouldn’t be easy to do, either, as she’d have to gain quite a bit of weight for that to happen.
But for an exhibition bout, or perhaps a Brazilian jiu-jitsu grappling match, maybe it’s possible to find some sort of catchweight to one day make this fight happen.
Mackenzie Dern Open to WWE
In addition to wanting to fight Rousey one day, Dern also said she’s open to competing in professional wrestling for WWE.
“Oh yeah, that’d be fun. So much fun. I mean, the Bella (Twins). It’s so cool. I’d be able to once I retire,” Dern said.
With the UFC and WWE both part of the TKO Group, Dern crossing over is possible.
Mackenzie Dern Open to Fighting Ronda Rousey