Mackenzie Dern has been one of the most talked about female fighters on the UFC roster since her debut.

Her highly accomplished career in jiu-jitsu, which Dern has used to become an elite submission threat in MMA, marked her out as one to watch all the way back in 2018.

Since then, the grappling specialist has been through some ups and downs in her career before arriving at her biggest fight to date.

While her vacant strawweight title fight at UFC 321 has been downplayed, it’s a massive opportunity for the 32-year-old to make her dream come true.

Long before she made it to this point, the first major setback that the Brazilian-American suffered in her MMA career came at a massively important time in her life.

Mackenzie Dern suffered her first loss when fighting four months after giving birth

In 2018, Mackenzie Dern debuted in the UFC and produced consecutive wins over Ashley Yoder and Amanda Cooper in her first calendar year with the promotion.

A long break in activity then followed, with the jiu-jitsu specialist spending 18 months on the sidelines before she faced Amanda Ribas in October of 2019.

Despite this long break, many were surprised to see Dern come back this soon because she’d only given birth to her daughter Moa four months prior.

She said in a piece by Women’s Health that announcing her pregnancy had led to her instantly losing 50,000 followers on Instagram, with Dern recently laughing off a question about her appearance.

Her quick return following her daughter’s birth led to the strawweight competitor being convincingly beaten by Ribas over three rounds, having admitted years later that she should have waited longer before competing again.

Six years later, in the first UFC event of 2025, Dern would earn revenge over Ribas by submitting her former foe in the third round, which led to her receiving a vacant title fight on October 25.

Mackenzie Dern compares her UFC trajectory to Charles Oliveira

If Mackenzie Dern is able to win the vacant strawweight title in her rematch with Virna Jandiroba on Saturday night, her UFC career would be a great story of overcoming adversity.

Fans have watched her enter the promotion with an MMA record of 5-0 and learn some tough lessons along the way.

During her UFC 321 fight week interviews, Dern compared her journey to the one that Charles Oliveira had before he became a champion for the first time.

“I see myself similar to like Charles Oliveira, who everyone saw he had so much potential and he’s kind of up and down and he’s been at it for a while and he has all these submissions. But, when they were champion, they really have a lot of light in them. They don’t just retire after.”

Just like Dern was able to avenge her loss to Amanda Ribas earlier this year, Jandiroba will look to do the same by evening the score with the opponent she was beaten by at UFC 256 in 2020.