Chael Sonnen announced his two headliner fights for the 2nd edition of Submission Underground. The matches that were announced feature 2 recently retired UFC fighters – Dan Henderson and Miesha Tate.
Henderson will be fighting against Jon Jones while Tate is going up against Jessica Eye – current bantamweight UFC competitor.
According to Sonnen, Mackenzie Dern had declined the offer to meet Tate as he told MMA junkie radio:
“Mackenzie Dern is supposedly a world champion in jiu-jitsu, Miesha Tate accepted on the spot, coming in to McKenzie’s world, (and Mackenzie is) trying to break into MMA. So it’s the opportunity of a lifetime, because she is now going to get to go against the queen of MMA who just was the world champion a minute ago – in her realm, which is jiu-jitsu.”
“Miesha accepts to come into her world, Mackenzie turns the match down. This is insane. This is insane that you were scared to compete in (the sport) which you were allegedly the champion of the world.”
Mackenzie Dern’s manager denied the allegation. Daniel Rubenstein says Dern is opting to focus on her MMA training for the remainder of the year as opposed to jiu-jitsu.
“She wasn’t competing in December regardless. She also turned down a fight that didn’t make sense to us. She was planning to fight for Legacy (FC) in December, and then take the rest of December off. She was focused on fighting, and when the fight did not materialize, she basically said she’s going to continue to train and get better for MMA.”
Dern has been kicking back while waiting for the next chance to test her skills in the octagon.
