UFC 295, The Morning After: Fire Boxing Coach, Fight Awful

Here’s what you may have missed!

Holy smokes, Mackenzie Dern looked absolutely terrible last night (Sat. Nov. 11, 2023) at UFC 295. She flailed all over the cage, sticking her chin to the sky any time she threw more than a single strike at a time. Her footwork was abysmal, a constant crossing of feet that left her vulnerable to … everything.

It wasn’t a good look.

Her opponent, Jessica Andrade, took advantage ruthlessly. She started smart, taking small victories in the form of chopping low kicks. Dern is a world-class grappler after all, not somebody to write off regardless of how wonky her kickboxing was looking. Before long, however, it was clear that Dern wasn’t going to be able to drag Andrade to the floor.

Dern bit down on her mouthpiece and threw hard — respect. Andrade did the same and threw way harder, putting Dern on the floor three times before the referee saved her. Those knockdowns were a nice reminder of the struggling ex-champion at her best, a notice to the division that you better not play around with “Bate Estaca!”

Still, it’s hard not to focus on just how awful Dern looked. Her willingness to engage in the firefight was admirable, but there wasn’t a single redeeming aspect from a technical standpoint. It’s not just that her chin was high or that her footwork was bizarre; there wasn’t a single aspect of her MMA game that was working. Her jab looked worse, her takedown entries were non-existent, and her takedown game itself seemingly regressed to JUST the cursed WMMA headlock throw. Dern is better than this. Angela Hill would’ve torched this version of Dern!

In the middle of the fight, the broadcast brought up the big question: where is Jason Parillo? One of the most proven boxing coaches in MMA, Parillo helped bring Dern’s footwork, jab and right hand a long way. He didn’t try to do anything overly complicated, but by improving her fundamentals, Dern’s overall MMA game immediately improved. She started landing takedowns more easily in addition to knocking down her opponents.

Remove him from the picture, and we’re back to the Dern who got jabbed up by Amanda Ribas in 2019.

The full details of Dern and Parillo’s situation were not revealed. Maybe this was just a single camp away after his RVCA gym abruptly closed. Hopefully, it’s not some desperate blood feud or money issue that cannot be resolved, because UFC 295 made it abundantly clear that Dern needs both his pad work and guidance.

Otherwise, any chance of Dern developing into a contender are likely to vanish into smoke.

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For complete UFC 295: “Prochazka vs. Pereira” results and play-by-play, click HERE.