Mackenzie Dern Insists She Doesn’t Need Zhang Weili's Win to Prove Her Worth as Champion

Weili dominated the division for years before moving up to challenge flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko, only to fall short. With her return to strawweight uncertain, Dern believes she has nothing left to prove.

Mackenzie Dern Has Her Say on the Zhang Weili Clash

While speaking at the UFC 330 post-fight presser, Mackenzie Dern dismissed the idea of defending her title against Zhang Weili to add credibility to her championship reign.

“No,” Dern said at the evening’s post-fight press conference. “I felt like the champion before when I won the belt, but I just think I solidified myself even more as the champ for the fans. They would say that, but I don’t think I need to beat Weili to be a champ.”

She certainly has a point there. Dern not only won the fight, but dominated it from the very first bell. According to ESPN, the 33-year-old landed 65 significant strikes, had control of the fight for 10:48, and completed 4 of 6 takedown attempts.

Meanwhile, Robertson landed just 49 significant strikes, recorded 6:47 of control time, and completed just 1 of 3 takedown attempts. The domination is evident from these stats, which is why Dern is not in the mood to admit she needs a win over Weili to prove herself.  

“I mean, people retire; I’m not saying that that’s what she’s going to do, but the more defenses I can get at this, whoever comes next, I think I proved that I was the champ,” said Dern. 

Weili has been out of action since losing to Valentina Shevchenko in November 2025, and there has been no word on her comeback. 

That said, Mackenzie Dern acknowledged that retirements do happen in the sport, but if Weili does return, it will be up to the matchmakers to decide whether the fight happens. Dern will be ready for her.

No Challenge Is Too Big for Dern

While Zhang’s comeback remains uncertain, Dern isn’t ruling her out. However, with the strawweight division packed with contenders like Tatiana Suarez, Alexia Thainara, and rising prospect Fatima Kline, the champion isn’t backing down from a fight.

“I don’t hope for anybody. Whoever the UFC gives to me, I’ll be ready,” Dern said, later adding, “Ideally I would like to fight probably in March, so maybe in six months if I can get maybe two fights a year, that would be good.”

Dern is now riding a four-fight UFC winning streak and owns a 12-5 record inside the Octagon. She is firmly in control of the strawweight division, but the competition is quickly catching up. However, as the competition gets tougher, Dern is ready to face them all. 

“I still see lots of things that I want to get better at just to be able to defend it more and more times, but I definitely feel like I solidified myself as the champ,” said Dern. 

Will she be able to prove her worth as a champion in future fights? Time will tell.