When Mackenzie Dern spoke about getting "punched in the face" to pay alimony after divorce proceedings: "This whole fight is paying for my ex"
Mackenzie Dern's divorce from Wesley Santos was once a topic of discussion ahead of her UFC 295 clash with Jéssica Andrade. Days prior to stepping into the octagon, she touched on her failed marriage to Santos and the problems the ex-couple dealt with during their tumultuous years together.
However, following their separation, Dern did not encounter newfound peace in her training camps without Santos present. When asked by a media member if finally divorcing Santos gave her some respite, Dern was quick to deny it.
"No. I realize we always have problems. Just the pressure. The last time I went through the divorce. The divorce was final but you don't realize how much aftermath there is to it. Literally, this whole fight is still paying my ex. You're like, 'Man, it's crazy. You have to get punched in the face and you work so hard and you do all this and you have to pay that much for something.'"
Check out Mackenzie Dern's comments about her divorce (10:04):
The financial burden of their divorce proceedings was such that Dern's bout with Andrade was essentially bankrolling her alimony payments to her ex-husband, Santos. Unfortunately for Dern, she lost her fight to Andrade in definitive fashion, with her striking looking far worse than it had prior.
Months before facing 'Bate Estaca,' she took on Angela Hill and showcased vastly improved striking in a ufc-fight-night-mackenzie-dern-vs-angela-hill" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">unanimous decision win. However, against Andrade, she seemed to have regressed and was on the receiving end of several knockdowns before being TKO'd halfway through round two.
Mackenzie Dern's ex-husband was recently involved in an alleged scuffle with her current partner
Antonio Trocoli, Mackenzie Dern's current partner, has found himself at the center of a physical assault allegation. Wesley Santos, the ex-husband and father of Dern's daughter, accused Trocoli of attacking him in Huntington Beach, California. Part of a statement he sent to MMA Fighting said the following:
"I dropped my daughter at school this past Friday and was going back home on a skateboard when I saw a white car stop, and I started recording. It was Antonio. He got out of the car and punched me, and the car kept moving, and he ran back inside the car. Cops were called, there were several witnesses, and Antonio was arrested for battery."
The arrest was confirmed by Huntington Beach law enforcement in an email sent to MMA Fighting.