UFC star Mackenzie Dern has opened up on a potential fight against Zhang Weili, who recently vacated the UFC strawweight championship.
As we know, Mackenzie Dern will battle Virna Jandiroba for the vacant UFC strawweight title on Saturday night. She will do so in the main event of UFC 321, and in Jandiroba, she'll be facing an opponent that she's already fought and beaten once before.
Of course, this is going to be a very different fight given that it's been five years since their first meeting. For Mackenzie Dern, though, it's all about staying humble, and keeping her feet on the ground.
With that in mind, it's pretty interesting to hear her thoughts on how a fight between her and Zhang Weili would've played out at this stage in her career.
Mackenzie Dern’s view on possible Zhang Weili fight
“I definitely think that if Weili was champion right now of our division, and I mean, obviously, I wouldn’t say no to a title shot, but I don’t think I’d be ready to fight Weili right now at this moment of my career, you know what I mean?,” Dern told MMA Fighting. “But I do think that if I do win the belt, and then whatever — if we were to fight like at the White House or something in June — I feel like I’d be way more ready and prepared to fight her.
“I know it’s like, OK, it’s just like what? Like six months or eight months difference. How much better do you think you’re going to get in 8 months? But I think just winning the bell, there’s a confidence part that you get from that, and it’s just more training and more time. She was just so dominant in the strawweight division.”
Quotes via MMA Fighting