Mackenzie Dern eyeing potential Rose Namajunas clash next
Despite being booked in a fight, Mackenzie Dern has claimed that her ideal next opponent would be Rose Namajunas as she looks to make her way towards the strawweight title. The jiu-jitsu specialist is approaching her third main event under the UFC banner when she collides with veteran Angela Hill on Saturday.
The pair were originally supposed to fight last weekend but had their bout rescheduled and moved up to the headlining spot for a Fight Night card in the UFC Apex. Though against tough opponents, the 30-year-old has lost to both Marina Rodriguez and Yan Xiaonan, making her 1-2 in her last three outings.
During a recent interview with CBS Sports' Shakiel Mahjouri, Mackenzie Dern detailed what a perfect world would look like if she is to get the win this weekend. As she sets her eyes on a matchup against a former champion, the one name that stands out above the rest for the contender is Rose Namajunas.
"I think in a perfect world, we're not looking past Angela Hill right now, but I would like to fight a former champion. They had talked about Carla Esparza before, they had talked about Jessica Andrade, they had talked about Rose. I think me and Rose would be a great next fight... Ideally, in a perfect world, I would love to be able to fight Rose."
If the grappling master is to get her wish, she will need to overcome the underappreciated toughness of UFC mainstay Angela Hill. 'Overkill' has gotten her hand raised in each of her last two octagon appearances and aims to continue that run in hopes of breaching the top 10 at strawweight.
Check out what Mackenzie Dern had to say about a potential future fight with Rose Namajunas in the video below.
Does a Mackenzie Dern matchup make sense for Rose Namajunas?
Rose Namajunas has been out of action since suffering a split decision loss to Carla Esparza and subsequently losing her 115lb title in the process over a year ago.
Currently ranked at #2 in the division, 'Thug' Rose will need to get herself back into the winner's column if she wishes to make another run at UFC gold, a title she has held on two occasions.
While there are a number of big fights in the weight class for her, she would arguably need to face a high-ranked opponent to get back into title contention. With a win over Hill, Mackenzie Dern could potentially improve her #8 ranking at strawweight.