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Women’s Strawweights

#5 WSW | Mackenzie Dern (11-2, 6-2 UFC) vs. #7 WSW | Tecia Torres (13-5, 9-5 UFC)

BETUS ODDS: Dern (-120), Torres (-110)

She still figures to be on the path to title contention, but Dern’s UFC career has been a frustrating ride. Dern was a blue-chip prospect immediately upon making her pro debut. Having been essentially raised on the mats, she ranks among the most decorated female grapplers in the world. Indeed, after showing off her submission chops in a few regional bouts, it was not long before the UFC signed her and marked her as a potential star. As with any grappling standout in mixed martial arts, one of the issues is actually getting to a spot to implement those skills, which has sometimes been an adventure for Dern. Her wrestling is spotty, though that has not mattered in a lot of instances. While her striking is not the technically soundest at times, she has a combination of natural power and aggression that, when paired with the threat of her grappling, makes her an absolute terror when everything is clicking. The hope was that her win against Nina Nunes, roughly a year ago, marked the true turning of a corner. In the cleanest performance of her career, Dern immediately got to pressuring, wrestling and taking the fight to the ground for a quick submission. However, some of those good vibes went out the window with her subsequent main event against Marina Rodriguez in October. Despite a one-sided second round that saw Dern outclass Rodriguez on the mat, she looked surprisingly flat and tentative in the face of Rodriguez’s tall frame and striking ability. Perhaps that performance was more of a one-off. Dern has since revealed that she was injured prior to the fight, and her career in general has seen her rebound well from her worse performances. She will need to be on point to get things done against Torres.



Torres has been on the fringes of title contention essentially from the jump of the UFC’s strawweight division, dating back to when she was a dark horse pick to win “The Ultimate Fighter” season that crowned the first champion at 115 pounds. After that, Torres hit the ground running by winning six of her first seven UFC bouts, but she never quite announced herself as the next title contender. While she has consistently lived up to her “Tiny Tornado” nickname, her tendency towards pace over power has made her a decision machine over the course of her career. In turn, that has come back to hurt her in her pursuit of the one win to get her over the hump towards that title shot, particularly in 2018. While Torres had some good ideas against Jessica Andrade and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, she found herself unable to match the horsepower of the former and unable to make up the size difference against the latter. That gave way to a rough 2019 campaign that included losses to Weili Zhang and the aforementioned Rodriguez, though things did eventually work out well enough. Each of those defeats aged particularly well, and Torres herself is now on a three-fight winning streak that has doubled as a reminder that she is still a tough out. As far as this fight goes, a lot of it comes down to the performance of Dern, who will likely need to put together 15 minutes of aggression to take this, given Torres’ combination of speed, strength and experience. If Dern is anywhere near as tepid as her showing against Rodriguez, Torres should be able to outmaneuver her without much issue. However, if Dern looks anywhere near her best form, she should be able to take a close affair. While Torres might have the grappling chops to survive against Dern—or just the wrestling needed to keep the fight standing—the realities of her compact frame mean that in order to land effective offense, she will have to get in close enough quarters to offer Dern an opportunity at some clinch work and takedowns. Add in that Dern figures to pack the much bigger wallop whenever she looks to throw, and that is enough to give her the edge on paper in a grimy fight. The pick is Dern via decision.

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