UFC’s Mackenzie Dern Grabs Attention While Twerking In Rio de Janeiro

UFC fighter and Jiu-Jitsu black belt Mackenzie Dernis sharing some of her most memorable moments from her time in Rio de Janeiro!

The 29-year-old has been spending the last few weeks in Rio de Janeiro after falling short of winning the match against UFC fighter Yan Xiaonan at UFC Vegas 61 on Saturday, October 1.

Mackenzie Dern, 29, has been visiting the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro, spending time partying, soaking up the sun at the beach, and even checking out some soccer games.

In a recap video, the Jiu-Jitsu black belt shared some of her favorite moments from the lat few weeks, including various times she let loose and twerked for the camera.

"Só alguns momentos inesquecíveis, o resto não dar para postar 😅❤️🇧🇷," she captioned the video, which translates to, "Just a few of some unforgettable moments!! 😅❤️🇧🇷" while tagging some of her friends, kickboxing black belt Karina, artist Kamila, and Jiu-Jitsu black belt Julia Boscher.

Fans loved the videos of Dern letting loose, as one user commented, " Mackenzie dern throwing it back is something i didn’t know i need in my life 👀 uhhh but i do."

Another Instagram fan wrote, "Single Kenzie is showing out lol." A third commented, "You don’t find many people who are party people but then can flip the switch and go through full training camps and make it to the top of fighting. That’s dope."

On Saturday, October 1, the 29-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt fought UFC fighter Yan Xiaonan at UFC Vegas 61. Unfortunately, she ended up falling short of winning the fight despite being a heavy favorite.

After her performance, Dern left the Octagon after a majority decision loss, extremely disappointed. Dern told Megan Olivi on the ESPN+ post-fight show:

“I didn’t do what I came to do. My goal was, if I got it to the ground, I should be finishing it. I have the best jiu-jitsu, I believe, in the women’s division, so I had lots of opportunities to finish and she was just the better fighter than me. I just feel like I’ve been getting so [much] better and it’s hard to not be able to show it in the fight.

I have so much to grow and it’s all part of the journey and I just thank Dana [White], the UFC, my team, the [Mark] Zuckerberg family for being here and making this such a great event. I’m sorry if I made anyone sad with my performance. I know so many people believed in me and I believed in myself, but it’s part of the game.”

“I knew that I was going to have to break her arm or put her to sleep,” Dern continued. “She’s tough. That’s what I was saying the whole time coming in here — she’s a tough girl. I knew she wasn’t going to tap easily and then standing, she hits hard. The first couple punches — I was like, ‘This is going to be a dog fight.’ I knew it was going to be a dog fight but I really, really thought I was going to submit her.”