UFC Strawweights Slam Mackenzie Dern’s Debut On Rankings

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Brazilian submission specialist Mackenzie Dern has skyrocketed through the strawweight division and has now broken into the top 15, but not everyone supports her presence in the top 15.

Especially Angela Hill and Felice Herrig, both of whom were bounced out of the top ten rankings to make room for Dern.

Both women recently took to social media to express their contempt for Dern’s presence on the strawweight top 15 rankings:

I’m going to weigh in on the @ufc #strawweight rankings with at least 7.5lbs of factual perspective: 1- For the most part 1-5 are pretty accurate across all weight divisions, but after that the rankings are a crap shoot. 2- These days hype trains seem to be gifted rankings over actually having to fight to the top. 3- #McenzieDern misses weight by 7.5 pounds, which makes her closer to a #Flyweight than strawweight. She beats an unranked fighter and takes @angieoverkill well earned #15 spot when her only actual win in the ufc as a #straweight was to #Ashleyyoder. McEnzie won by a very close split decision, while Angela won unanimously. So why does Angela get bumped?? 4- Justine Kish isn’t even in the top 15, although she beat #14 #NinaAnsaroff unanimously and #11 #RandaMarkos. Justine did move up to Flyweight but so did #calderwood. So why is Calderwood even in the rankings anymore? 5- If #waterson is #7 & I’m #8 then 9,10 & 11 are all out of order… 6- I beat #Grasso unanimous decision , I beat #casey split. Waterson beats casey split decision. Casey finishes Markos, while Grasso takes her to split. So the rankings should actually be: #7 Waterson #8 Herrig #9 Casey #10 Grasso #11 Markos Even if Dern made weigh there is no factual reasoning as to why or how she could take Angela’s spot other than a massive glitch in the matrix. LBD out!

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Dern blasted through UFC 224 opponent Amanda Bobby Cooper with a nasty overhand right immediately followed up by a lightning-quick submission in the first round. However, Dern missed weight for that fight by seven pounds, coming in at a whopping 123 pounds for a 115-pound contest. Cooper accepted the catchweight bout regardless, and the rest is history.

UFC 224 marked the third time in Dern’s undefeated MMA career that she’s missed the strawweight limit, and even though the submission ace sports an impressive 7-0, the Cooper victory wasn’t actually a strawweight fight, making Dern’s ascent into the top 15 dubious at best.

Hill and Herrig rightfully put Dern and the UFC voters on blast for it, criticizing Dern’s replacement of Hill in the rankings. The overall themes of their criticism revolve around the fact that Dern didn’t even come close to making the strawweight limit and that other strawweights are far more deserving of Dern’s ranking and promotion.

Champion Rose Namajunas lords over the strawweight division with two victories over former kingpin Joanna Jędrzejczyk.

Is Dern’s ranking legitimate or is it a product of the UFC marketing machine?