Mackenzie Dern thinks her style matchup with Tecia Torres is a recipe for a very entertaining fight.
Dern (11-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) meets Torres (13-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) at UFC 273 on April 9. The strawweight bout is part of the pay-per-view main card, which takes place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., and airs following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
The jiu-jitsu specialist will look to rebound from her Fight of the Night loss to Marina Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 194 in October, and knows the streaking Torres will bring the fight to her.
“I think that this is a very important fight,” Dern told MMA Junkie. “Tecia is trying to get into the top five, I’m trying to cover my last fight that was a loss, so get back on the win streak, and I think it’s gonna be fireworks this fight.”
Dern, No. 7 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie strawweight rankings, knows No. 12-ranked Torres has shared the octagon with the very best. “The Tiny Tornado” has won her past three, and that momentum presents a dangerous challenge.
“I think Tecia’s looking so good, I’m happy to be fighting her at this time in her career,” Dern said. “I think she had gone from a losing streak, but just losing from all former champions so now she’s definitely kind of overwhelming the girls and that’s why I say this is gonna be a firework fight because I don’t know what’s gonna be her strategy, but I feel like she’s gonna come and try and overwhelm me like she’s been doing her last fights. I think we’re both just gonna try and get the respect we want from each other.”
Dern took some valuable lessons from her loss to Rodriguez, where she went five rounds for the first time in her career and was forced to strike for the majority of it. Although she’s dealing with a much smaller opponent in Torres, she aims to be less tentative on the feet and plod forward in order to get her offense going.
“I definitely don’t want to go back to what I did with Marina where I walk forward, but I kind of walk back too,” Dern said. “Definitely I’m gonna keep walking forward too in this fight, and I see her doing the same thing, throwing her blitzes, she throws a lot of combinations and stuff like that. I definitely don’t see me going into this fight without getting hit or anything like that, but I’m definitely gonna go in and try and hit her too. That’s why I think this fight is gonna be so entertaining for everybody and it’s gonna be a big battle.”
Mackenzie Dern: Tecia Torres is going to ‘try to overwhelm me’ in ‘very important’ UFC 273 matchup
