{"id":534427,"date":"2026-03-12T00:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T00:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534427\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T00:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T00:53:08","slug":"gillian-robertson-sees-mackenzie-dern-title-bout-after-ufc-fight-night-269","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534427\/","title":{"rendered":"Gillian Robertson sees Mackenzie Dern title bout after UFC Fight Night 269"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS \u2013 Gillian Robertson senses a strawweight title fight in her future with a strong performance vs. Amanda Lemos in the UFC Fight Night 269<\/a> co-main event.<\/p>\n

Robertson (16-8 MMA, 13-6 UFC) has won five of six since dropping down to 115 pounds in April 2023, and a definitive victory over former title challenger Lemos (15-5-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC) on Saturday at Meta APEX (Paramount+<\/a>) would be a strong statement for the division.<\/p>\n

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“I think with the most finishes out of anyone and the most submissions out of any women, this will be my fifth win in a row,” Robertson told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “I don’t see why I wouldn’t deserve the title after this.”<\/p>\n

Robertson, No. 11 in the latest USA TODAY Sports\/MMA Junkie strawweight rankings<\/a>, has yet to fight for a belt in her UFC tenure despite being among the all-time female leaders in wins, finishes and submissions.<\/p>\n

At 30, she thinks now is the time, and she is compelled by a matchup against reigning champion Mackenzie Dern<\/a> (16-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC), who shares similar strengths in terms of grappling ability.<\/p>\n

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“I think this is a fight that has been in the making for years at this point,” Robertson said. “Mackenzie being such a highly accoladed grappler outside of the UFC, then me being the submission queen inside the UFC. It’s been something everyone has wanted to see, and why not for the belt?”<\/p>\n

Robertson must keep her focus on No. 6-ranked Lemos first, and it’s no easy out. She was supposed to fight the Brazilian in December, but it was called off on fight day<\/a> due to a medical issue on Lemos’ side.<\/p>\n

Although Robertson said the fight canceled stung and she “processed it a lot like a loss,” eventually the rebuild took her to another level. Because of that, she said the performance of her life is coming at UFC Fight Night 269.<\/p>\n

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“It didn’t happen, and I feel like this second time around has just been a complete blessing,” Robertson said. “An even better camp. Co-main event now. I don’t think it could go better. … I really just need to get my hands on her, and the fight is going to be over.”<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Gillian Robertson sees Mackenzie Dern title bout with UFC Vegas 114 win<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2013 Gillian Robertson senses a strawweight title fight in her future with a strong performance vs.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[37241,64,63,786,265228,81327,785,3169,85,44865],"class_list":{"0":"post-534427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-amanda-lemos","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-fighting","12":"tag-gillian-robertson","13":"tag-mackenzie-dern","14":"tag-mma","15":"tag-mma-junkie","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-ufc-fight-night"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534427","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=534427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}