Mackenzie Dern’s first assignment as the UFC strawweight champion comes on Aug. 15 at UFC 330 against fellow submission specialist Gillian Robertson.
Robertson, 31, has been a picture of confidence as she’s risen through the UFC’s ranks over the past nine years and set a new benchmark for the most women’s finishes in the promotion’s history with 12. Her seven submissions also stand alone as a UFC record for women, giving her the edge over the highly-touted jiu-jitsu black belt champion Dern.
Monday on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Dern took Robertson’s comments over the years as a bit of “shade” that downplayed the champ’s abilities. Robertson responded on Tuesday’s show, clarifying that her confidence shouldn’t be confused with disrespect.
“I don’t think I’ve been throwing shade,” Robertson told Uncrowned. “I’ve been saying that this is a good matchup — her being the most accoladed jiu-jitsu girl, me being the [top] submission artist of the UFC. I have the most submissions, the most finishes for women.
“I don’t take anything away from her jiu-jitsu accomplishments. That’s jiu-jitsu, and we’re fighting MMA now. That’s where I’m going to be better. Obviously I wouldn’t be taking this fight if I didn’t think [I was better]. I am more aggressive. She does have good jiu-jitsu, I’m sure she trains with a lot of high-level girls that train jiu-jitsu, but they’re not elbowing her in the face like I will.”
When comparing the two on Monday, Dern was quick to highlight how much more experience she has in pure jiu-jitsu competitions than Robertson. She was unaware if Robertson had ever formally competed in the sport — which Robertson hasn’t.
The challenger’s retort? She’s been competing in the UFC for nearly the past decade, focused fully on training in MMA. To Robertson, pure jiu-jitsu experience is irrelevant and means nothing in the cage. “The Savage” believes that’s been proven in both of their careers thus far.
“Once it starts getting to a higher level, and it’s MMA, she’s had issues — not being able to get the fight where she needs it to be, not being able to get the fight to the ground. We saw it with [Dern’s UFC losses against] Amanda Lemos, with Yan Xiaonan. Those girls were able to pull off the wins because of that,” Robertson said.
“It’s an issue in MMA in general, where a lot of people are training either striking, wrestling, or jiu-jitsu, which she obviously is doing, separating the sports so much. You can see that she doesn’t get in deep enough on her shots. She’s not well-versed enough in her striking to set up her shots, and it’s just kind of reckless.
“I’m not sure where [the fight will] end up. I’m just trying to prove I’m the better MMA fighter, in general. I don’t care if it’s on the ground or on the feet or in the clinch. Wherever we are, I just want to prove that I’m the better fighter.”
As she rides a five-fight win streak into her first UFC title opportunity, Robertson (17-8) finds herself on the best run of her 25-fight career. She has established herself as a major player at 115 pounds after starting as a flyweight in 2017. Despite that, it was former UFC champion Zhang Weili who the MMA world expected to challenge Dern first.
Ultimately, Zhang’s pursuit of the flyweight title against reigning champion Valentina Shevchenko in 2025 opened the vacant title opportunity for Dern at strawweight. Zhang came up short to Shevchenko, losing a unanimous decision and presumably leading her back to the division she’s reigned over twice before. Instead, the shot went to Robertson.
“I was hoping for the best, I guess,” Robertson admitted. “I knew that Weili was definitely in the talks if she was coming back. I do think she deserved the spot before me. Obviously, things didn’t work out that way. I don’t know if it’s something on her side, the UFC’s side, whatever. But after my last performance, I expected the call, and I was hoping for it as long as Weili wasn’t back in the picture.
“I was just waiting for it. When it happened, I was definitely hit with a lot of emotion, but it just feels like it’s time.”
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