{"id":447452,"date":"2026-01-30T13:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T13:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/447452\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T13:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T13:53:08","slug":"teen-grappling-phenom-helena-crevar-calls-for-submission-grappling-match-with-ufc-champ-mackenzie-dern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/447452\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen Grappling Phenom Helena Crevar Calls For Submission Grappling Match With UFC Champ Mackenzie Dern"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rising grappling star Helena Crevar has expressed interest in facing UFC strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern<\/a> in a submission grappling match, adding another high-profile name to her list of potential opponents.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old black belt, who trains under legendary coach John Danaher at Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu in Austin, Texas, spoke with Kyle Diamond of Bloody Elbow<\/a> about potential matchups with mixed martial arts fighters competing in a jiu-jitsu format.\u200b<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, definitely. Mackenzie, I\u2019ve known about her pretty much since I started when she was still competing in jiu-jitsu<\/a>,\u201d Crevar said during the interview ahead of her ONE Championship debut. \u201cI believe around then she had already won ADCC and IBJJF black belt worlds. So it\u2019s definitely amazing to see her now going into MMA and also being successful there.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dern captured gold<\/a> at both the 2015 ADCC World Championship and the 2015 IBJJF World Championship during her dominant grappling career. She went on to make history in October 2025 by becoming the first woman to win world titles in IBJJF, ADCC, and the UFC when she defeated Virna Jandiroba via unanimous decision at UFC 321<\/a> in Abu Dhabi. The achievement places her alongside former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum as the only fighters to accomplish this feat across all three major disciplines.<\/p>\n

Helena Crevar Calls for Submission Grappling Match with UFC Champion Mackenzie Dern<\/p>\n

Crevar, who has established herself as one of the most accomplished young grapplers in the sport\u2019s history, showed openness to competing against multiple MMA fighters in grappling-only contests. \u201cI\u2019d really like to compete against some MMA fighters as well in the jiu-jitsu format,\u201d she explained. \u201cI think it would make for an exciting match because they know how to push the pace, so I think those would be really exciting matches as well.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

When asked if she had specific fighters in mind, Crevar kept her options broad. \u201cNo one in particular right now \u2013 anyone that\u2019s in the top, whether it\u2019s an MMA fighter or jiu-jitsu, just anyone in my weight class really,\u201d she said.\u200b<\/p>\n

Crevar\u2019s comments came during promotion for her ONE Championship debut at ONE Fight Night 39 on January 23, where she submitted Teshya Noelani Alo with an Estima lock<\/a> at 1:40 of their openweight submission grappling match. The performance marked a successful start to her tenure with the Singapore-based promotion, which allows her to compete across multiple platforms without exclusive restrictions.<\/p>\n

\"\"ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES \u2013 OCTOBER 23: Mackenzie Dern is seen on stage during the UFC 321 press conference at Etihad Arena on October 23, 2025 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n

The teenage phenom<\/a> has compiled an impressive resume despite her age. She became the youngest ADCC World Championship finalist in history at 17, earning silver in the 65kg division in 2024. She captured the CJI 2 women\u2019s tournament in August 2025, defeating Sarah Galvao in the final to claim a $100,000 prize, the largest single payout in women\u2019s Brazilian jiu-jitsu history.\u200b<\/p>\n

Crevar won the 2025 IBJJF World Championship at brown belt and received her black belt promotion from Danaher in June 2025, making her his first female black belt. She holds titles from Polaris and Who\u2019s Number One (WNO), with a professional grappling record of 27 wins against three losses.\u200b<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Dern has shown continued interest in grappling competitions despite her UFC commitments. She received an invitation to compete at the 2024 ADCC World Championship, marking a potential return to submission grappling nearly a decade after her 2015 triumph. Whether she pursues additional grappling superfights while defending her UFC title remains to be seen.\u200b<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rising grappling star Helena Crevar has expressed interest in facing UFC strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern in a submission…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-447452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447452","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=447452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}