Mackenzie Dern was widely expected to face the dominant former UFC strawweight champion, Zhang Weili, in her first ***** le defense. She instead finds herself matched against fellow jiu-jitsu ace Gillian Robertson at UFC 330 on Aug. 15.
Dern, 33, claimed the vacant 115-pound throne in Zhang's absence at UFC 321 last October, scoring a decision win over Virna Jandiroba and setting Dern up for a potential clash with a returning Zhang, who left the division in 2025 in pursuit of flyweight gold. Zhang ultimately came up short against pound-for-pound queen Valentina Shevchenko, but her departure nonetheless opened the door to strawweight's top contenders, and Dern capitalized.
Where does that leave Zhang at present? Dern has no idea, she revealed Monday on "The Ariel Helwani Show."
"I can't give you that response. I don't know," Dern told Uncrowned when asked why that fight isn't happening next. "They were talking about Weili. They had mentioned [UFC] Macau, then the White House, [then] New Jersey. So I'm not sure what happened or what's going on, but they came back with Gillian Robertson, I think, after her win against Amanda Lemos [in March]. ... I'm not sure what the deal with Weili is or what is happening."
Ultimately, Dern isn't upset by the delay in facing an all-time great.