With BJJ still being considered an amateur sport, many sport BJJ competitors look to transitioning to MMA. Examples of current top MMA fighters that came from sport Jiu-Jitsu: Jose Aldo, Fabricio Werdum, Ronaldo Jacare, Demian Maia, Bibiano Fernandes etc..

Mackenzie Dern is the daughter of ‘Megaton’ Dias. Incredibly, she started competing in the adult divisions of tournaments at the age of 14!

2015 was an amazing year for Mackenzie Dern. She won the Pan, World Pro at weight and Absolute, the Worlds, silver at Europeans and gold at ADCC!

What’s next for a girl that has won everything?

At only 22, Mackenzie Dern is following in the footsteps of her fiancee Augusto Tanquinho and transition to MMA. Today, Den signed a deal with Legacy FC and will make her MMA debut July 22 in Dallas, Texas.

Dern currently trains at The MMA Lab with Tanquinho and Benson Henderson.

For her MMA debut, Dern told MMAFighting.com that she will fight at 115 pounds. The opponent has yet to be announced.

I hope I can represent jiu-jitsu well and put on a good performance. Of course, I will try to be aggressive, but it’s my first fight, so I will still feel everything, see what I have to improve.”

In an interview with TATAME, Mackenzie Dern revealed her plans for the transition but stressed the financial side and the desire for new challenges as some factors for change. In addition, Megaton’s daughter also spoke about how she is inspired by Fabricio Werdum, who made history in Jiu-Jitsu and, nowadays, is heavyweight UFC champion and one of the big stars of the organisation:

“The plan is to start fighting MMA in 2016. The financial side of Jiu-Jitsu is very difficult. Of course it is much better than it used to, but it can improve more. I can not speak for other athletes who are also switching to MMA, so I think it (migration) can be for several reasons. In my case, it’s to have a new challenge. I want to be like Fabricio Werdum but for the women, with three world titles, Jiu-Jitsu, ADCC and the UFC (laughs). Today, you can you have a good life with Jiu-Jitsu, if that’s what you like. I intend to have it, but I’m 22 years old only, I’m healthy, so I think I have everything to try these challenges and then when I stop fighting, I want to have an academy, teaching what I love: Jiu-Jitsu “

Mackenzie Training for MMA debut: