When Mark Zuckerberg took over UFC Apex for a private viewing of Mackenzie Dern's fight
Mark Zuckerberg, an avid fan of MMA, once reportedly rented out the UFC Apex for Mackenzie Dern's fight against Yan Xiaonan back in October last year.
While fans are usually allowed to attend UFC Fight Nights held at the promotion's apex facility in Las Vegas, this event was reminiscent of the pandemic period. A lot of question marks were raised surrounding why media and fans were barred from attending the event.
Speaking of the same, headliner Mackenzie Dern spilled the beans and stated that tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg had rented out the entire facility. During a conversation with the media ahead of UFC Vegas 61, she said:
“I mean I know Mark Zuckerberg like, rented out the whole event, you know? So I know he will be there. I mean, but I don’t know if it’s just like, literally him and his wife or he’s gonna have friends. Or if it will be like, a small party. I don’t know. I’m excited and that just makes me more driven to put on a good show. That’s what they want to see, is a show, then we’re gonna give a show.”
However, Dana White was quick to deny Mackenzie Dern's statement on Twitter and stated:
"Mark Zuckerberg did NOT rent out the UFC Apex. That’s total bullsh*t."
Jessica Andrade claims Mackenzie Dern ducked her in the past
The former UFC women's strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade is set to return to the octagon this weekend for her fifth bout of the year, this time against Mackenzie Dern.
Andrade spoke about her upcoming fight at UFC 295 during an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA's Andrew Whitelaw. She claimed that the UFC attempted to make the fight a while ago; however, Dern declined the opportunity. She said:
"It's a great challenge. It's a fight that should've happened a while ago. I was supposed to fight Mackenzie [Dern] in the past. She didn't accept it. At that time, perhaps, because of the fact that I was actually on the up and up. I was ascending. I was just coming off of wins. And now that I'm kind of in a valley a little bit, coming off of three losses, she accepted it. I understand that."