Mackenzie Dern made her name thanks to impressive performances during her jiu jitsu career. But ever since she transitioned to MMA, Dern has had to up her game and work on her striking as well.
For the 29 year old, this meant getting serious about her career and getting on top of coaching, conditioning and nutrition. After getting kicked out of Arizona’s MMA lab and subsequently getting into a payment dispute with Blackhouse MMA, Dern appears to have hit her stride at RVCA under the watchful eye of Jason Parillo. At the gym, she works alongside Marlon Chito Vera, Luke Rockhold and many other infamous athletes.
One fixture at the RVCA gym is Jake Johns aka Big Boy SC – a powerlifter, personal trainer and entrepreneur that has more than 700 thousand fans on his social media. Having spent a lot of time around each other, Big Boy decided it would be a good idea to do the bodyshot challenge with Dern – and wear no padding.
In fairness to Big Boy he’s quite a bit bigger than Dern – Dern is known for her petite stature and is in the UFCÂ women’s strawweight division. She is currently booked to face Tecia Torres on April 10th during UFC 273.