Mackenzie Dern reacts to Rose Namajunas raising suspicion about Tracy Cortez's weigh-in
UFC icon Rose Namajunas voiced concerns about a potential discrepancy in how Tracy Cortez's weight was measured and strawweight Mackenzie Dern agrees with the former champion.
The UFC returned to the 'Mile High City' this past Saturday for UFC Denver on July 13 at the Ball Arena. The original main event was canceled due to Maycee Barber's injury and Tracy Cortez was announced as her replacement. To avoid another potential replacement due to a missed weight, Cortez cut her hair to make weight for the 126-pound flyweight bout.
Talking to the media a day before the fight, Namajunas expressed suspicion about the methods used to determine Cortez's weight:
"I do feel like, I don't know who's in charge with making sure that the scale that you check your weight on before you get on the official scale, there's supposed to be the same. And they were not the same. So, whoever is in charge of that, I need to talk to because that was very, to me it was very suspicious or something, it didn't feel right."
In the aforementioned post, No. 7-ranked strawweight Dern appeared impressed with the comments on the weight discrepancy as she praised the former strawweight:
"Rose always beautiful and gangster."
Rose Namajunas recalls viral moment she accidentally knocked eyelashes off Tracy Cortez's face
During the main event at UFC Denver, Namajunas landed a right hand that grazed Cortez's eyelashes, causing her to lose some of them. The moment went viral as fans rewatched how 'Thug' Rose's punch sent Cortez's fake eyelashes flying through the air.
The two-time world champion discussed the incident on The MMA Hour, explaining why she would never consider wearing something like that in the cage:
“That’s crazy, I noticed something was up with her eye. The camera literally captured it [flying off her face]. You can’t make that stuff up. God’s got a sense of humor. That is classic stuff. Bless her heart. That’s the one thing that I’ve always been cognizant about, I’ve had eye injuries sort of, so that’s something that I’m always routinely checking my eyes. That’s the one thing with the fight game, teeth and eyes and the nose too."
Check out Rose Namajunas' comments on the viral moment (2:47:32):
Rose Namajunas defeated Tracy Cortez by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47). 'Thug Rose' landed 119 significant strikes to Cortez's 85, completed five takedowns, and scored a knockdown, securing the victory and simultaneously cementing herself as a serious contender in the flyweight division.