Mackenzie Dern Husband
Ahead of her featured strawweight fight against Tecia Torres at UFC 273, we take a look at the husband of Mackenzie Dern, her kids and more
Brazilian jiu-jitsu prodigy Mackenzie Dern takes on the fiery Tecia Torres in the stacked UFC 273 card this Saturday. Former world no.1 ranked IBJJF competitor, Dern is an ADCC and no-gi BJJ (black belt) World Champion. Currently, she is ranked number 5 in the strawweight division and 13th in overall women’s pound for pound rankings.
Derns made her professional MMA debut fighting at Legacy FC back in July 2016. She went 4-0 under the banner before roping in her Invicta FC deal. The Brazilian fought only once in the company before being signed by the UFC.
She made her UFC debut at UFC 222 against Ashley Yoder, and won the fight by split decision. She went 2-0 in the UFC before losing a unanimous decision fight to fellow Brazilian Amanda Ribas. She went on a brilliant four-fight win streak which came to an end in her last outing against Marina Rodriguez.
Derns has been working relentlessly to develop her overall game, and has been training boxing with Jason Parillo [ famous for training Michael Bisping, BJ Penn, Marlon Chito Vera, and Cris Cyborg]
Outside the octagon, Derns spends most of her time with her boyfriend Wesley Santos, who’s a trained Brazilian surfer. He is 26 years old and the pair are seen spending time with each other at beautiful beaches in between fights. Santos accompanies Derns in most of her fights and supports her in every way possible.
Dern revealed that her husband got into a scuffle with her head coach which led her to change her gym. Dern explained the situation was about money and addressed the topic openly with the media. Here’s what she said.
“So my husband talked to him. My husband’s like this surfer guy, you know, totally good vibes, afro, definitely not the fighter style. He went to go talk to him and [Gomez] was just like, ‘No, if you want to come to the academy, come to the academy and we’ll talk,’ and hung up. We went to the academy and he just swept dirt onto my husband, pushed him, and my husband pushed him back and they just went into a fistfight. It wasn’t like a brawl, a crazy brawl, it was like a street fight or technical fistfight. Back and forth, my husband’s doing feints, and I’m like, ‘Where is he learning all this?’ It was so crazy.”
Mackenzie Dern was born to her parents on March 24, 1993, in Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America. She grew up with her father Wellington ‘Megaton’ Dias and stepmother Luciana Tavares. Her father is a Brazilian native who has won several championships in grappling. However, the identity of her biological mother has not been revealed in the media.
As a child, Mackenzie spent going back and forth between Arizona and Brazil. She can communicate in both English and Portuguese, claiming that Portuguese has become her preferred language after learning it from her father and stepmother, both of whom are Bazilian.
Additionally, she has two siblings: a half-brother named Korah and Merrick.
Wesley and Dern have a baby daughter together named Moa who was born on the 9th of June, 2019. The pair post plenty of pictures of their adorable daughter online, and travel to beaches with her.
Mackenzie Dern’s husband is Wesley Santos.
Wesley Santos is a Brazilian professional surfer.
Mackenzie Dern and Wesley Santos have one daughter – Moa.
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