Dern Releases Statement After TKO Loss

Dern sounds optimistic despite a tough outing against Jessica Andrade at UFC 295 that saw her knocked down multiple times and TKO’d.

Mackenzie Dern may be down after her UFC 295 loss to Jessica Andrade, but she’s not out.

Dern got knocked down repeatedly against Andrade at Madison Square Garden, eventually leading to the referee waving off their fight 3:15 into the second round. It was not a great outing for the Brazilian jiu jitsu ace. While she was game and aggressive in the face of Andrade’s superior striking, she had few solutions for the beating her opponent was unleashing upon her.

In a new statement released on her Instagram Stories, Mackenzie discussed the disappointing result.

“Hey guys, so I’m sorry about the loss,” she said. “I’m sorry about the fight, I tried my best, but … Jessica’s tough. I got hit, and it is what it is. You can only lose if you fight.”

As Dern filmed the statement, fans banged on her car window and cheered her on.

“I still have all the fans out. So, I appreciate it, I appreciate all the support,” she said with a smile. “I’m sorry if I upset anyone. I know a lot of you guys believed in me, but I will be back stronger and learn from this. And yeah, let’s go. We’re still gonna go after the belt.”

Things have been chaotic for Dern over the past several training camps. Not only has she been going through a tumultuous divorce and custody battle with her ex-husband, her gym RVCA shut down abruptly during this latest lead-up.

Leading up to the Andrade fight, she admitted the chaos probably wasn’t helping.

“My whole life when I was training to be a world champion in jiu-jitsu, my best times of being a world champion was when I had a routine and I had a schedule and you’re able to keep focused,” she said. “I think that’s why it’s hard to be a mom and try to be a world champion, to be the champion in the UFC because you need to be consistent in your training.”

“When you don’t feel you’re consistent in your day-to-day life, one day is this, one day is that, you’re like I just need to train. You just make it work.”

Dern continues to swing back and forth between wins and losses. Her last win streak ran from 2020 to 2021 when she went 4-0 (and 6-1 overall in her UFC record). Since then she’s gone 2-3 including this latest TKO defeat to Andrade.