LAS VEGAS – Despite a lengthy layoff, Nina Ansaroff said she is looking to pick up right where she left off.
Ansaroff (10-6 MMA, 4-3 UFC) will return for the first time since June 2019 when she faces Mackenzie Dern (10-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC on ABC 2 card, which takes place at the UFC Apex.
In her most recent outing at UFC 238, Ansaroff dropped a unanimous decision to rising star Tatiana Suarez. Later that year, she announced that she’d be taking some time off to welcome a baby girl with her wife, UFC dual-champ Amanda Nunes, and after giving birth in September, Ansaroff will return just six months later to take on the streaking Dern.
“Mackenzie is a super tough girl,” Ansaroff told MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s UFC on ABC 2 media session at the UFC Apex. “She came back right after having her baby, as well. I don’t know if she asked for the fight or if the UFC thought it was a great idea. But when they announced it to me, I was like, you know what, what’s fair is fair.
“She came back right after her baby against Amanda Ribas, who was an up-and-comer, and I guess I’m doing the same thing. She’s a very tough girl; she’s not just jiu-jitsu. She likes to throw, she’s got a big heart, so I took my preparation very seriously, even more so coming back from a pregnancy. I gained a lot of weight, I lost a lot of weight, I feel great.”
Prior to her loss to Suarez, Ansaroff was on a four-fight winning streak, and she currently sits at No. 7 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie strawweight rankings. She thinks had she beaten Suarez, she would have entered title contention, so she expects the implications to be no different against Dern.
“My last fight against Tatiana was also a contender fight,” Ansaroff said. “I lost, which I feel was a close fight. Given another minute, I think I would have finished that. I had a rough week, I went into the fight with strep throat. I was on a bunch of antibiotics, so I didn’t preform my best. Here we are two years later, another contender fight, but no strep throat, so let’s see what happens.”
The UFC on ABC 2 main card airs on ABC following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.