Mackenzie Dern (24-12 MMA, 15-10 UFC) is certain that Jessica Andrade (13-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) will be desperate to win in their bout at UFC 295. According to Dern, her opponent’s motivation will be her three-fight losing skid. In her recent statement, Dern believes that the former strawweight champion would show her most dangerous self in the upcoming fight.
To recall, Andrade lost in a bout in August after she got submitted by Tatiana Suarez. The same happened in her fight against Erin Blanchfield in February, while Yan Xiaonan knocked her out in May. With this, the upcoming UFC 295 should serve as Andrade’s redeeming fight. Dern believes these losses make her rival ready to kill. On Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
“She’s still there. She’s still got this,” Dern said during Wednesday’s UFC 295 media day. “I think she’s going to come with strategy. In the three fights, she was submitted twice and knocked out once. I think she’s going to have a little more of a game plan. I think she’ll still come for war. I think she wants to take my head off. She wants to kill me in this fight.”
Andrade affirmed the idea, saying the losses will be used as her motivation in the next fight.
“I think there is a lot of pressure,” Andrade said through an interpreter. “Actually, more pressure on myself to turn things around and to have a different outcome. You obviously feel the pressure to have a different outcome going forward.
“I think for me, I’ve seen so many things throughout my career in the UFC that to me, it’s more motivation to get back in the win column, motivation to have a comeback, motivation to keep my place in there. So for me, it’s more motivation than pressure.”
Dern, on the other hand, wants to make use of the bout to get better momentum in her career. While she won over Angela Hill in a unanimous decision in May, her past fights alternate between wins and losses. With this, although the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion said Andrade would be dangerous, she believes that this will also be the perfect time to pounce on her.
“She’s had a full training camp,” Dern said. “She’s coming off three straight losses. … No one wants to lose four times. I’m just hoping five fights in a year takes a toll on her a little bit.”
