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Mackenzie Dern Says She Needs To Be More Like Khabib: “It’s Clear To Me”

Mackenzie Dern Says She Needs To Be More Like Khabib: “It’s Clear To Me”

Ahead of her next bout, Mackenzie Dern has shared her insights on how she plans to enhance her performance…
By, among other things, integrating aspects of Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s well-known fighting style.

Dern explained what she means by that in a recent interview:

I mean, it’s clear to me I kind of just need to be more like Khabib and just go forward.

I mean, that’s my style, you know. Keep them on their back feet and just pressuring and have them, you know, concerned about the takedown and just me getting close to them all the time.

Khabib’s strategy of keeping opponents defensive and off-balance through aggressiveness and constant pursuit of takedowns is something Dern believes can significantly improve her already impressive grappling skills:

You know, it’s almost easier to close them off instead of, you know, being in the strategic and giving too much opportunities for something to land.

Dern is keen on improving her ability to capitalize on moments when she has her opponents rattled with her strikes:

When I did land some shots, I got excited about it and then I landed like one, two, and I wanted to throw like a three or four or five instead of like, now’s a good time to go for the takedown.