{"id":233508,"date":"2025-10-22T22:12:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T22:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/233508\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T22:12:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T22:12:07","slug":"mackenzie-dern-once-beat-gabi-garcia-before-ufc-321-title-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/233508\/","title":{"rendered":"Mackenzie Dern Once Beat Gabi Garcia Before UFC 321 Title Shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Strawweight standout Mackenzie Dern takes on Virna Jandiroba for the vacant 115-pound title at UFC 321<\/a> this weekend (Sat., Oct. 25, 2025) inside Etihad Arena on \u201cFight Island\u201d in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

As most fans know, before becoming a UFC title contender, Dern was one of Brazilian jiu-jitsu\u2019s brightest stars<\/a>, boasting an extraordinary resume that includes world championships at every belt level \u2014 from blue to black. She captured multiple IBJJF World titles (gold in 58kg in 2015 and 2016), No-Gi World titles (including absolute gold in 2015), and, of course, an ADCC gold medal.<\/p>\n

But one of Dern\u2019s biggest accomplishments didn\u2019t come with a medal \u2014 it came in the form of a victory over the towering Gabi Garcia. In their five career matchups, Garcia won the first four, but Dern\u2019s lone win became one of the most talked-about upsets in women\u2019s grappling history.<\/p>\n

Their rivalry began long before Dern ever laced up four-ounce gloves, and it quickly became one of the most fascinating storylines in women\u2019s BJJ.<\/p>\n

Their first meeting came at the 2013 Pan American Championship in Abu Dhabi. Garcia, standing 6\u20192\u201d and outweighing Dern by nearly 100 pounds, used her size and top pressure to smother her smaller opponent, eventually forcing a tap via clock choke.<\/p>\n

They met again a year later at the 2014 No-Gi Worlds, where Dern\u2019s speed and technique gave her early success. However, Garcia\u2019s physical dominance prevailed once more as she locked in an Americana submission.<\/p>\n

The pair clashed three more times in 2015, with Garcia continuing her winning streak \u2014 securing victories via clock choke and bread cutter submissions. But their final encounter, at the 2015 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, marked a turning point. This time, Dern finally got her revenge \u2014 sort of.<\/p>\n

Garcia once again controlled the action early, using her size to stay on top. However, under a new rule prohibiting communication with the referee, Garcia was penalized for speaking to the official after scoring a takedown. That point deduction cost her the match, and Dern held on to score a massive upset that sent shockwaves through the grappling world.<\/p>\n

Now, as she prepares to fight for UFC gold at UFC 321, it\u2019s hard not to reflect on her legendary rivalry with Garcia. Long before she was chasing championships in the Octagon, Mackenzie Dern proved she could overcome giants \u2014 literally.<\/p>\n

Remember that MMAmania.com<\/a> will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 321 fight card<\/a>, starting with the ESPN+\/Disney+\/FX<\/a> \u201cPrelims\u201d matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET, before the main card start time at 2 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+<\/a>).<\/p>\n

To checkout the latest and greatest UFC 321: \u201cAspinall vs. Gane\u201d news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Strawweight standout Mackenzie Dern takes on Virna Jandiroba for the vacant 115-pound title at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[139414,64,63,74670,786,74671,40762,785,139415,85,138947,1396,14855],"class_list":{"0":"post-233508","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-aspinall-vs-gane-start-time","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-bjj-news","12":"tag-fighting","13":"tag-jiu-jitsu-tournaments","14":"tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","15":"tag-mma","16":"tag-preview-and-live-results","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-ufc-321-fight-card","19":"tag-ufc-news","20":"tag-videos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}