Mackenzie Dern on her 'real striker vs. grappler' bout against Marina Rodriguez

UFC strawweight contender Mackenzie Dern previews her main event matchup on Saturday at UFC Vegas 39 versus Marina Rodriguez. Though she says her striking has improved, the jiu-jitsu specialist tells Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole she plans to use her grappling to "finish fast."

Video Transcript

KEVIN IOLE: Hey, everybody. I am Kevin Iole and welcome to 'Yahoo Sports" on Saturday at Apex. We have a good main event-- Mackenzie Dern who everybody thinks is just a jujitsu ace against Marina Rodriguez, who a lot of people think is just a striker. But I think both women are saying they can do a little bit of the other. Mackenzie, how are you?

MACKENZIE DERN: I'm doing great. I'm so happy. Like you said, it's my first main event. So it definitely will be the perfect platform and you opportunity for me to really show if I'm ready to get the belt. I think I'm looking at this fight like it's about-- it's definitely like if I win this, I think I'm next in line. So like you said, striker versus grappler, real striker versus grappler. People ask me like, oh, you're going to try to test your striking with Marina? Man, I don't have feelings like that. Of course, I'm confident. If I need to go off 5 rounds striking, hey, I'm ready to do it. But hey, I see the way to win this fight is by grappling and take to the ground, finish sparse, get the win, no injuries, no elbows, no cuts, no broken noses, and get paid and go home.

KEVIN IOLE: There you go. You don't want to have the baby scared, when she sees mom all cut up, right?

MACKENZIE DERN: Yeah. I had like two fights ago, I broke my nose. She was giving me kisses to try and make me feel. She'll be there in the corner, so it'll be great to have her. I think I'm really trying to show the grappling is like, hey. Grappling is better. And I think she's going to be like, hey, striking is better. So we'll see.

KEVIN IOLE: Well, the one thing I think with the level of your grappling. I mean, obviously, Marina is going to have to pay close attention to that. It seems to me, that makes your striking better. You look really good strikingwise against Nina Nunes. And I mean, I think you're striking have really made strides. Do you feel like that is the fact that your grappling is so good, it's such a striking up a lot?

MACKENZIE DERN: Definitely, and I think both. I think my striking getting better is helping my take downs a little bit. Because imagine anyone who accepts to fight me, they spend basically the whole camp just training take down the fence. Take down the fence. And everyone's like, oh, just take them down. I'm like, man, it's so hard with punch. They're punching it, and they're like just training all take down the fence the whole time. They're so prepared for the takedown defense.

So now, with Coach Parillo, he's really helped me to get my striking better. It's getting better. So now, people are like, OK, wait, she can punch now too? Her punches hurt. And then, I can take it down a little bit easier. So I'm really starting to blend both of them together. Of course, I'm not like this whole new striker. But I think I'm definitely becoming a more well-rounded fighter. And I think that's what you need to be the champ. Of course, I'll always be the jujitsu representative. I see a lot of Marina's fights. She was taken to the ground. Even though one she's won, but she was taken to the ground still. But the girls just hold her, like ground and pound, not really do anything. It's totally different when you're on the ground with an actual jiu-jitsu specialist. I'm like--

KEVIN IOLE: Flying around you.

MACKENZIE DERN: Yeah. I'm already looking for submissions and just constantly getting to better and better positions, not just holding in ground and pound. So I think it will be definitely a danger zone for her if she gets to the ground.

KEVIN IOLE: You mentioned Jason Parillo, your coach. He is known obviously for Michael Bisping. But I think he's best known for BJ Penn. And BJ Penn's a lot like you in terms of-- he was a world champion in jiu-jitsu. And then, he became. I mean, a lot of people would watch BJ with his hands. He looked like he was a champion boxer. I mean, is that the goal for you if you could come up and do the kind of thing that BJ did, where wherever the fight goes, you're equally confident and equally comfortable?

MACKENZIE DERN: 100%, definitely. That's one of the big things that I send him. It would be great if I could hook up with Jason Parillo, if he would want to teach me. I think we'd make a good team. He knows how to work with jujitsu fighters. He knows how to make anyone good with their hands. I was so excited when we had a good energy. Now, we're 3-0 together as him as my coach. So definitely I feel way more confident knowing that he doesn't try to make me become a striker. He doesn't try to take away my roots, but he's definitely help me. He just helps. My striking become dangerous, and that makes the opportunity to go to the ground even easier. So he really is helping me become like a total champ for sure.

KEVIN IOLE: I want to get your take on Marina. I mean, anybody who saw her fight with Carla Esparza knows she could have won that fight. And if she did, she'd be undefeated. That was her only career loss. I wonder, I mean, you're a pretty solid favorite in this fight. A lot of people are looking at you as the next big thing in the division. Do you feel like some people are giving Marina a little bit short shrift. I know you're not. But do you think that people don't realize what a big challenge she presents to you?

MACKENZIE DERN: Yeah, 100%. I think I'm the favorite. I'm number four. But it's like, man, she has more experience than me. She has I think 14, 15, 17 fights. I have 12 fights. So she has more fights than me. She's been doing MMA longer than me. She has more wins than me. So definitely experiencewise, she's tough. She's, I think, maybe 35. So she's a woman. She's definitely knows this is her time. And she comes in strong. Like you said, she's had two draws. So draws aren't because they're not good. It's just because it's a battle.

So definitely, she's a tough fight. I think people really believe just the whole striking-grappling that this is a good matchup. Especially seeing that Carla took her to the ground, even though she got elbowed and stuff, I'm definitely paying attention. I saw all of Marina's fights, so I definitely know she's dangerous from the bottom. She throws these elbows and all these things. So yeah, I know it's going to be a tough fight. And hey, that would be even better, even better with the win over such a tough girl.

KEVIN IOLE: No doubt. When you were coming up, you were such a heavily high prospect when you were in LFA. You were getting so much attention and everything. I went. I think you had one fight in Invicta before you got to the UFC. And I wonder, did the pressure get to you at first, when you got to the UFC? Excuse me, if you take this the wrong way. But I didn't think you were as dominant or looked as spectacular when you got to the UFC. It's maybe a lot of people thought you would. Was all the expectations that were placed upon Mackenzie Dern weighing on you in those early UFC fights?

MACKENZIE DERN: No. I think the idea was really just to grow inside the UFC. I didn't want to grow try to gain too much experience outside of the UFC. One, because it's good that attention. It's good to people-- even though people sent me. She doesn't know how to throw punch and things like that. But people are scared still that ground game and things like that. Imagine you get your first loss in Invicta or LFA or something, one of the smaller events. So we definitely want to grow more in the UFC and be tested against the high ranked girls. But I think the biggest thing for me, what threw-- not threw off my style but made it a little bit slower in the beginning was just all the tension being--

I was having fun. I was liking all the attention. I didn't take it too seriously. And I said, man, this is fun. I'm getting all this attention like a party girl at the time. I fight. I go partying. I was just living that life. I wasn't thinking too much. I didn't see myself as the champion. When everyone else was seeing it, but I wasn't. I was just living fight by fight and day by day. And then, once I had my daughter, I said like, man, this is serious. If we have a hard time by yourself, you can eat ramen noodles. You can go through difficulties. But now, you have this person, human being that depends on you.

As soon as I announced my pregnancy, all those people that were giving me support, sponsors, everyone laughed. All the tension turned. The weight cuts, I said like, man. I saw firsthand how things change. I realized, OK, the same way people can all like you and praise you, they can stop just like that. So then, the value of my family is so important to me. I said, our circle is so tight. OK, this is our crew. We're going to go all the way to the belt. Then, I really realized, OK, I do have the potential to be the champion. I don't just live day by day. I want to set goals and take invention. The fame, the attention, it comes but just by you doing your best. I don't need to-- I still have fun. I still live a good life. But I'm definitely way more focused, way more mature, and more like a champion.

KEVIN IOLE: Things can't change for you in one way too that were unusual, at least the way I look at it. You had a little bit of a problem with your weight before you got pregnant, right?

MACKENZIE DERN: Yeah.

KEVIN IOLE: And now, after you got pregnant, it's no problem. Normally, I think, people, they add weight after they give birth. It make it a little bit tougher after giving birth. Would you credit the fact that you haven't done that with what you said what the maturity and the fact that you became more professional and weren't going out and eating and doing whatever else you were doing prior?

MACKENZIE DERN: Yeah, definitely. I think what was good, it was almost-- I mean, I've been training since I'm three years old. So I'm not going to say like, oh, I was burnt out. But I definitely think I was going through a little bit of a rebellious phase. Fighting but more just because people say, oh, you should do it. You could be. People were putting the pressure for me to fight. Of course, I wanted to look for new goals and things like that. But man, I was tired. I was tired of training. I was tired of competing my whole life.

So definitely, when I became pregnant, I took the nine months just relaxing. It was good. Because my daughter, she took all the muscle, but she absorbed a lot of the fat too and everything. So I was able to start from 0. My body restarted. My metabolism was changed again. And then, the mentality going on forward, now, this is my sixth fight since my daughter was born. So just to keep that mentality, now, I'm 118 and 1/2. So basically, no weight cut. I'm feeling strong. I'm feeling great. I think just the maturity since the pregnancy start from 0, I was able to keep everything control and focused and things like that.

KEVIN IOLE: That's perfect. One or two more things, you were in the "Yahoo Sports Top 10." I mean, you've been doing a great job. You're three or four in the division. There's a big title fight coming up, a rematch between Weili and the champ Rose Namajunas. How do you see that going?

MACKENZIE DERN: Yeah, it was crazy. Before the first one, I said, oh, I think Zhang Weili will win. Now, after the fight, I think Rose will win. I saw that, Weili, she's I think down in Arizona with Henry Cejudo training. He's a wrestling Olympic champion also. I don't know. It looks like maybe Zhang might think about taking this fight to the ground this one. So I'm excited to see what changes she'll make. I think it was a good cut kick. I don't know if every time, rose would catch that kick every single time. But Rose is so dangerous striking. She does flying armbar. I know she has a good ground game. So I'm going to say Rose again this time.

KEVIN IOLE: Very interesting. Last question, then. Regardless of what happens, I think a lot of it-- we mentioned Carla Esparza. For a lot of people saying Carla deserves the title shot. So you go out there with a good win over Marina, you're probably still going to have to wait. Is that frustrating? And how do you approach it when you go in knowing, OK, I'm so close to the title. And I'm on the same schedule as the champ. She's fighting just a week or two after you or a couple of weeks after you. How do you maintain your discipline given the fact that carrot at the end of the rainbow is going to get pushed off a little bit?

MACKENZIE DERN: Yeah. It's hard. It's definitely hard to keep that focus and just wait and see if they'll give me the fight. But definitely, if I get this win-- and it's hard too. Because with the champ, if the champ doesn't want to fight, you've got to wait until the champ decides to fight. You're waiting and waiting. But I think since my daughter is born, she's two years old, I thought this will be my sixth fight. So always my whole career, I've always been back to back to back, maybe three months in between each fight, four months the max.

If I don't get a title shot, who knows? Maybe me and Carla will fight each other. We'll be like, she has five wins. This would be my 5th win. I've never fought actual pure wrestler, but we'll see. Or maybe we can pass over. I heard that they offered Carla me and Carla, but she wanted to try and wait it out and see if she could get for the belt, which I understand too. It's like, man, she's been doing some great performances and things like that. But the UFC is crazy. And sometimes, they jump people when they say no and things like that. So you've got to really play your cards good with UFC. We'll see. I'll be training, because you never know. Maybe a short notice comes up. I definitely want to stay active even if it's not for the belt, but stay active and keep that record going.

KEVIN IOLE: No doubt. One Saturday night over at Apex, you can see Mackenzie Dern take on Marina Rodriguez in a what should be a really fun fight. Mackenzie, I appreciate you. Thanks so much for your time.

MACKENZIE DERN: Yeah, thank you so much.