UFC Fight Night 224 video: Mackenzie Dern, Angela Hill make weight for main event

Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 224 headliner is official after Mackenzie Dern and Angela Hill made weight for their strawweight showdown.

LAS VEGAS – The final UFC main event of May is official after [autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag] and [autotag]Angela Hill[/autotag] made weight for UFC Fight Night 224.

Dern (12-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) and Hill (15-12 MMA, 10-12 UFC) will both seek their first headlining victory Saturday when they meet in a key strawweight clash at the UFC Apex. The card streams on ESPN+.

Before they step on the scale, though, the pair had to make weight. They did so Friday morning, with Dern tipping the scale at 115 pounds while Hill registered at 114.5.

Check out the video above to see both women make weight for UFC Fight Night 224.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.

UFC Fight Night 224 breakdown: How smaller cage affects Mackenzie Dern-Angela Hill matchup

MMA Junkie fight analyst Dan Tom takes a closer look at the UFC Fight Night 224 main event between Mackenzie Dern and Angela Hill.

MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom breaks down the UFC’s top bouts. Today, we look at the main event for UFC Fight Night 224.

UFC Fight Night 224 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.

UFC veterans in MMA, bareknuckle boxing, and karate action May 19-20

Check out which UFC veterans are in combat sports action across the globe this weekend.

This week, the UFC returns home to Las Vegas for UFC Fight Night 224, headlined by a strawweight bout between [autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag] and [autotag]Angela Hill[/autotag].

UFC Fight Night 224 also features a co-headliner between middleweights Anthony Hernandez and Edmen Shahbazyan.

Elsewhere, many other combat sports events are taking place that feature a number of familiar names that have competed under the UFC banner.

This weekend, there are a total of nine veterans of the global MMA leader competing in MMA, bareknuckle, and karate this week from May 19-20.

Check out the names and details about their bouts below.

Upcoming event information from Tapology.

UFC headliner Mackenzie Dern details career epiphany through divorce, other obstacles

UFC Fight Night 224 headliner Mackenzie Dern explains the clarity she found during a divorce, management change, and gym absence.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag]’s training camp for UFC Fight Night 224 was filled with hurdles and struggles.

As the universe seemed to be dragging her down, Dern (12-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) said she ultimately came to realizations that reshaped her mindset for the better ahead of her main event bout Saturday vs. Angela Hill (15-12 MMA, 10-12 UFC) at the UFC Apex.

“I feel like so many things are trying to bring me down, like changing managers, the divorce, the gym,” Dern told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a news conference Wednesday. “There’s so much stuff going on that I don’t want something to take me off my course. To stay on course, I need to have a plan.”

Through a divorce, a management change, and a month-long absence of her coach Jason Parillo, Dern focused on the mental side of her life, which trickled into her fight career. She enters UFC Fight Night 224 with what she thinks is a more educated and measured approach.

“It was basically, like, this camp was tactical and having this vision of fighting that I never had before.” Dern said. “I feel kind of like, man, I’m 10 fights into the UFC and I just found that out now to understand that. I just need to win the round. If you do that each round you win the fight.”

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Dern, 30, has been considered by many a future UFC title contender since she burst on the MMA scene as an accomplished jiu-jitsu ace in 2016. She’s lost three times a pro MMA fighter. Dern tacks up at minimum her two most recent losses to a feeling of discouragement that came when she struggled to submit her opponents.

“Marina (Rodriguez) and Yan Xiaonan, I think they were both really experienced fighters with good movement,” Dern said. “For me, now going into this fight and with my loss, I have a vision that’s better. I don’t need to submit every single round – this pressure and this excitement like, ‘I need to submit.’ If I didn’t finish in the first round, then I didn’t finish in the second round, you could see the emotion and the frustration getting in. I’m like, ‘OK, these girls know how to win by points.’

“They know how to use the rulebook, which is part of the game. … I was so confident and I wanted to submit them that it was a little bit too exciting instead of more patience and calm and precision.”

Against Hill, Dern hopes to break her bad luck at the UFC Apex and take one more step toward her ultimate goal of UFC champion. She is 1-2 in her most recent three, but Dern will find herself at 2-1 in her most recent three should she win.

“The path to the belt, I’m trying to make it as clear as possible,” Dern said.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.

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Video: UFC Fight Night 224 media day interviews

Before UFC Fight Night 224 arrives, 12 athletes from the main card are scheduled to speak to reporters Wednesday at media day.

LAS VEGAS – The UFC schedule for May closes out Saturday with UFC Fight Night 224, which takes place at the UFC Apex with a full card that streams on ESPN+.

A strawweight main event serves as the final act on the card. [autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag] will take on [autotag]Angela Hill[/autotag] in a matchup of fighters looking to take the next step forward in the division.

Before fight night arrives, though, 11 athletes spoke to reporters Wednesday at media day, and MMA Junkie was in attendance.

If you happen to miss any of the individual sessions on the live stream, check below for the archived videos of each media day.

UFC Fight Night 224 pre-event facts: Will third time be the charm for Mackenzie Dern?

Check out the numbers behind UFC Fight Night 223, where Mackenzie Dern will make her third attempt at a UFC main event victory.

After two weeks on the road, the UFC returns to its home base on Saturday for UFC Fight Night 224 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The entire card streams on ESPN+.

The makeshift main event for the card will feature a pair of strawweight contender hopefuls. [autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag] (12-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) will meet [autotag]Angela Hill[/autotag] (15-12 MMA, 10-12 UFC) in a five-round matchup.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts for UFC Fight Night 223.

UFC free fight: Mackenzie Dern taps Randa Markos with nasty, first-round armbar to earn $50k bonus

Watch Mackenzie Dern put on a grappling clinic against Randa Markos.

There’s plenty of evidence in the octagon that [autotag]Mackenzie Dern [/autotag] is a world-class grappler. And there might be no better fight to showcase that than the one against Randa Markos.

Back in September 2020, Dern left many speechless with her quick and dominant win over Markos on the main card of UFC Fight Night 178. Dern was able to tie up and bring Markos to the ground from her back early in the first, and from there, it was all domination.

Dern would transition from attack to attack until she eventually swept and mounted Markos. From there she locked in a nasty armbar and shortly after got the tap. It was an impressive showing.

You can watch Dern’s crazy jiu-jitsu in the video above.

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Dern is set to return to the cage this Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 224. She takes on Angela Hill in a women’s strawweight matchup. The card goes down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and streams on ESPN+.

Dern (12-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) looks to bounce back from a majority decision loss to Yan Xiaonan from last October. She’s currently 1-2 in her past three fights, a run that put a halt to a four-fight winning streak.

Hill (15-12 MMA, 10-12 UFC) is coming off back-to-back wins over Emily Ducote and Lupita Godinez. This two-fight winning streak snapped a 1-5 rut for Hill that extended from 2020 to 2022.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.

Video: Brandon Moreno, Mackenzie Dern, more react cageside to Alexa Grasso’s upset win at UFC 285

See how the UFC stars sitting cageside reacted to Alexa Grasso’s stunning finish of Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 285.

[autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag] left many people speechless with her showing against all-time great Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 285.

The Mexican fighter ended Shevchenko’s historic title run on Saturday night in the co-main event in Las Vegas. Shevchenko (23-4 MMA, 12-3 UFC), who was attempting to further her record for the most consecutive title defenses in women’s UFC history, was submitted by Grasso (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) with a rear-naked choke in the fourth round.

Like many watching from home, numerous UFC stars, including [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag], [autotag]Brandon Moreno[/autotag], [autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag], and others sitting cageside, were completely shocked.

Below you can watch their real-time reactions to Grasso’s championship win.

 

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Grasso remains unbeaten since moving up to 125 pounds. She left strawweight and switched to flyweight in 2020 and racked up four consecutive wins before getting the title opportunity. En route to the belt, she defeated Ji Yeon Kim, Maycee Barber, Joanne Wood, and Viviane Araujo.

Grasso is now the first Mexico-born woman to win a UFC title.

For Shevchenko, the loss halted a historic championship run as she had seven consecutive title defenses. This was also her first loss at flyweight since she dropped from bantamweight in 2018.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 285.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Feb. 20-26)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Feb. 20-26.

Mackenzie Dern plans to revisit jiu-jitsu roots for Angela Hill: ‘I need to finish it’

Mackenzie Dern wants to go back to her bread and butter in her upcoming UFC women’s strawweight fight against Angela Hill.

COSTA MESA, Calif. – [autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag] wants to go back to her bread and butter against [autotag]Angela Hill[/autotag].

Dern (12-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) will look to rebound when she faces Hill (15-12 MMA, 10-12 UFC) at a UFC Fight Night event May 13.

An ADCC and no-gi world champion in jiu-jitsu, Dern has earned seven-career wins by submission. Although she had success getting her opponents down in her two recent losses, she failed to finish them, and that bothers her.

“As Mackenzie the jiu-jitsu world champion, if I’m on the ground, I should be submitting any of the girls,” Dern told MMA Junkie. “So in that way, I’m always going to push myself. That’s why I’m training so much jiu-jitsu just to keep – jiu-jitsu is always my last priority, a little bit, because I was trying to get my striking up to where it needs to be, my takedowns, all these things.

“But now, I’m just like, ‘OK, I’m getting it to the ground now, but I need to finish it.’ I only have five minutes to get to the ground, to submit, and we still have punches and all these things. So I need to be on point with my jiu-jitsu.”

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Stylistically, Hill is a favorable matchup for Dern on paper. But Dern acknowledged Hill has grown exponentially as a fighter and has a lot more experience than her.

“I felt like that about all the girls I fought, so I learned not to underestimate any of them – because really all they need is decent defense, maybe use the cage,” Dern said. “Angela has a lot of cage experience. So that’s definitely something that gets me like, ‘Man, I can’t make a mistake with her.’ I’ve got to make sure that if I hit, I hit hard. If I’m moving, I’m moving good on my feet. If it’s on the ground, she doesn’t get up. And that’s it.”