UFC women’s strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern clarified why her first title defense wasn’t against former champion Zhang Weili.
Last fall, Zhang vacated the women’s 115 lbs belt to move up to 125 lbs and battle UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko. But after she was dominated on the ground by Schevchenko and lost a unanimous decision at UFC 322, it was evident that Zhang was too small for flyweight, and she said she was moving back down to strawweight.
Meanwhile, after Zhang vacated her strawweight belt, Dern defeated Virna Jandiroba to win the vacant 115 lbs title at UFC 321. With Zhang moving back down to 115 lbs, most figured that she would fight Dern for the belt in her return to the weight class. Instead, the UFC went with a surprise opponent for Dern when Gillian Robertson got the title shot against Dern at UFC 330, instead.
Fans are curious to know what happened, and Dern has provided more clarity on the matter.
Mackenzie Dern Comments on Why Zhang Weili Fight Didn’t Happen
Speaking to “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Dern explained why the Zhang fight didn’t materialize from her side of things, suggesting that it wasn’t her call.
“I can’t give you that response. I don’t know. I don’t know. They were talking about Weili. They had mentioned Macau, and the White House, New Jersey. I’m not sure what happened or what’s going on. They came back with Gillian Robertson, I think after her win against Amanda Lemos, that was maybe April. So yeah, it’s August 15,” Dern said (via MMAjunkie.com).
Mackenzie Dern Not Disappointed to Not Fight Zhang Weili
When asked if she was disappointed to fight Robertson in her first title defense and not Zhang, Dern said no. While she is open to fighting Zhang later on, for now she’s happy with Robertson as her opponent.
“No, no, I definitely wasn’t disappointed. I mean, I would be excited to fight her, but not in a pressure way like I need to prove people. I feel like a lot of people talk about that I’m not the champ because I didn’t beat her and stuff like that. It would’ve been an honor, and it would’ve been amazing to beat her, but yeah, if I have six more months or however many title fights I have to get in to just get better and better and be more prepared to fight her, I’m excited for that,” Dern said.
Mackenzie Dern Clarifies Why Zhang Weili Fight Didn’t Happen