Mackenzie Dern drew inspiration from BJJ legend Royce Gracie.
Long before making her UFC debut in 2018, the jiu-jitsu world champion knew that it was her destiny to represent the sport of BJJ on MMA’s biggest stage. Today, the Phoenix native is 15 fights into her UFC career and currently sits as the sixth-ranked contender in the women’s strawweight division.

Dern believes she owes some of that success to Gracie.
“Gracie was one of my biggest influences,” Dern told MMA Junkie. I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to go into MMA.’ UFC 1 was crazy—they started with jiu-jitsu. That gave me courage. There wasn’t a woman’s jiu-jitsu representative in UFC or MMA, so I really felt more courage to do it. Then I took on the responsibility of representing jiu-jitsu for women in MMA.”
For many, Gracie was their first introduction to jiu-jitsu. Making his promotional debut at the inaugural UFC event in 1993, the Brazilian ran through the competition, submitting three opponents in a single night to become the first-ever UFC tournament champion.
Gracie still holds records for the most tournaments won in UFC history and the longest finishing streak, submitting 11 straight opponents. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in November 2003.

Mackenzie Dern wants to be like Charles Oliveira
However, Gracie wasn’t Dern’s only source of inspiration.
“And Charles Oliveira—just seeing him, he’s my biggest inspiration,” Dern added. “I’m just trying to catch him! He has the most submissions, most bonuses. I want to be like him. His career took a while, he had injuries, but I follow his career, and I think it’s a little bit similar to mine.”
Though he came up short against Ilia Topuria at UFC 317, there’s no denying Oliveira’s status as one of the best fighters the sport has ever seen. Do Bronx’ has put away 20 of his 23 opponents inside the Octagon, making him the most prolific finisher in UFC history — 16 of those wins coming via submission.

What’s next for Dern remains to be seen, but she’s currently sitting on back-to-back wins after besting both Loopy Godinez and Amanda Ribas in her most recent outings. If she gets her wish, Dern will have the chance to flex her BJJ skills against top-ranked contender Virna Jandiroba.