Mackenzie Dern defended her strawweight championship for the first time at UFC 330 on Saturday, as she dominated Gillian Robertson in a five-round decision. Now, bring on Zhang Weili.
Dern (17-5) looked levels above Robertson (17-9) in their co-main event matchup inside Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. She took Robertson's back multiple times and appeared seconds away from securing a rear-naked finish late in the first round. Dern clearly won the first four rounds before visibly tiring and allowing Robertson to take the fifth.
The judges scored the 115-pound title fight for Dern via scores of 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47.
"I definitely wanted to submit her, that was the goal," Dern said. "But in the fourth and fifth rounds, my legs started to get tired. I try to get submissions in all my fights, but anyone fighting for the belt, they are going to have decent defense."
The victory hopefully sets up a meeting between Dern and former strawweight champion Zhang, who vacated the belt in 2025 to move up and seek a second title at flyweight. Zhang came up short in her 125-pound title bid against Valentina Shevchenko in November and has not yet announced her next move. Dern has repeatedly said she hopes to face Zhang as soon as possible to leave no doubt that she is the best 115-pound fighter in the world.
She certainly looked the part Saturday, as she took Robertson down at will and repeatedly passed her guard. Robertson, of Canada, was an underdog going into the bout, but she had 20 fights of UFC experience to her name and holds the record for most submission wins by a female in UFC history. Nevertheless, she looked out of her league against Dern on the floor, surrendering four of six takedown attempts and allowing Dern more than 10 minutes of control.
Robertson nearly didn't make it out of the first round after Dern took her back and spent the final 30 seconds seeking a rear-naked choke. Robertson was in such trouble she needed to give referee Keith Peterson a "thumbs-up" signal as the final seconds of the round ticked off.
Fighting out of Los Angeles, Dern has won four in a row, including title wins over Robertson and Virna Jandiroba. Her last loss came in a Fight of the Night battle against Amanda Lemos at UFC 298 in February 2024.