Mackenzie Dern admits she may not have been ready to face Zhang Weili, but UFC 321 title win can change that

The competitive side of Mackenzie Dern hopes to one day share the octagon with Zhang Weili, but if that happened now, she thinks it wouldn’t be the right time, even if Zhang didn’t move up to flyweight.

Dern now embarks on her first UFC title fight this Saturday as she faces Virna Jandiroba in the co-main event of UFC 321 with the vacant strawweight championship on the line. Zhang vacated the belt to challenge Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight title in the co-main event of next month’s UFC 322 event.

Dern respects everything Zhang has accomplished at 115 pounds, and that’s why now wouldn’t have been a good time to face the multiple division champion at this stage of her career.

“I definitely think if Weili were champion of our division right now, and I mean, obviously I wouldn’t say no to a title shot, but I don’t think I would be ready to fight Weili right now at this point in my career, you know what I mean?,” Dern told MMA Fighting. “But I think if I win the belt, and whatever – if we were to fight like at the White House or something in June – I feel like I’d be a lot more ready and prepared to fight her.

“I know it’s like, OK, it’s just like what? Like a difference of six or eight months. How much do you think you’re going to improve in 8 months? But I think just winning the bell, you get some confidence out of it, and it’s just more training and more time. She was so dominant in the strawweight division.”

Dern gets his shot at UFC gold in his 16th appearance in the octagon, and does so against the division’s top contender – one that Dern has already defeated. In their first meeting at UFC 256 in December 2020, Dern earned a unanimous decision victory over Jandiroba.

The 32-year-old would love the chance to face Zhang down the road, but if she doesn’t, Dern sees the strawweight division opening up with new faces and new contenders.

“I really feel like this is going to elevate us a little bit more,” Dern said. “We’re kind of re-energized, a little more confident throughout the division, we’re kind of seeing different matchups and we’re all maturing differently as fighters, and I feel like either me or Virna would be better prepared to fight her if she decides to come back right away, you know what I mean? So I’m not really thinking too much, ‘Oh, it’ll be sad.’ [if we never fight].’

“She’s accomplished so much, so if she retires, or if she decides to stay at 125, I wouldn’t think about it too much. I mean, it’s the fighting world. How long has she been there? So it’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m only a champion if I beat her, but I would love the opportunity to fight her.’

“I’m not going to say that I wouldn’t say, ‘Man, it would be very exciting to fight her,’ but yeah, the main goal is to beat Virna, win the belt, and then we’ll see if she comes back down or not. I think if she comes back down, Virna or I will be ready to fight her. And if not, it will be sad, but the strawweight division is growing so much, there are so many tough girls coming up that people don’t know. will not do. be disappointed.