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..

After Rodolfo Vieira, and Marcus Buchecha, the latest BJJ competitor to officially announce their transition to MMA is none other than Mackenzie Dern. 2015’s grappler of the year made the announcement on her Facebook page today:

Im so lucky to have these girl helping my MMA transition!! They are great training partners and I am so happy to call them my friends ! RFA 115lb Champion @mmajocelyn & UFC 135lb fighter @laurenmurphymma.

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 now the ADCC!

At only 22, Mackenzie Dern is following in the footsteps of her fiancee Augusto Tanquinho in transitioning to MMA. She would probably compete at straw weight.

In an interview with TATAME, Mackenzie Dern revealed her plans for the transition, and made clear her desire to win a few more titles in Jiu-Jitsu, 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:

“Yes, we are already planning the transition to MMA. I’m still missing some things (titles) in Jiu-Jitsu and I will continue fighting in Jiu-Jitsu, but 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 “