Has Mackenzie Dern fought Gabi Garcia? A look at the former ADCC champion's BJJ achievements

UFC women's strawweight contender Mackenzie Dern is one of the most decorated grapplers to grace the UFC octagon. While she leads the list for most submission wins in the women's 115-pound division in the UFC, her grappling match against International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) Hall of Famer Gabi Garcia is what made her a household name in the grappling realm.

Dern took on nine-time world champion Garcia in an open-weight contest at the 2015 ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship (ADCC). Besides her grappling credentials, Garcia is also renowned for her commanding presence at 1.88m tall and over 90 kilograms.

However, the contest didn't work out in her favor after a penalty point allowed Dern, who weighed in at 55kg, to bag the victory in the last four. Throughout the clash, Dern managed to demonstrate slick transitions to avoid getting submitted by Garcia.

Check out the full match below:

Dern is also a former world No.1-ranked IBJJF competitor and is an ADCC and no-gi BJJ (black belt) World Champion. She secured first place in the IBJJF Pan American Championships in 2015 and 2016.

In the past, Dern has competed against Garcia on several occasions, although not always a winning effort. She lost to Garcia via kimura lock submission in the finals of the absolute category of the World No-Gi Championship in 2014. The 38-year-old also got the better of Dern in the open weight category of the European Open 2015 Black Belt finals.

Check out the matches below:

---

Mackenzie Dern previews the upcoming Craig Jones vs. Gabi Garcia intergender grappling match

Grappling wizard Craig Jones will headline the CJI (Craig Jones Invitational) when he squares off in an intergender superfight against Gabi Garcia.

The matchup has stirred a lot of buzz on social media and Dern weighed in on how it could play out. Speaking at the recent UFC Abu Dhabi pre-fight media day scrum, she said:

“I’m interested to see how that will be. I think obviously if [Craig] doesn’t take care, she can just like hug his head and put her weight on him, and it will be really hard for him. Of course, he’s a guy, so I’m interested to see how that will be. I think obviously if she messes up some position, he can catch her back or submit her.”

Catch Mackenzie Dern's comments below: