Mackenzie Dern is a UFC champion.

The popular star defeated her Brazilian compatriot Virna Jandiroba via five-round unanimous decision in the co-main event of UFC 321 to win the organization’s vacant strawweight title Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

Two judges scored the bout three rounds to two, while the other had it four rounds to one, all in favour of Dern who’s now 2-0 against Jandiroba in her career.

This was a rematch almost five full years in the making. Jandiroba and Dern met in late 2020 with Dern escaping with a hard-fought, three-round unanimous decision victory.

Dern, 32, joined the UFC in 2018 after a successful pre-MMA career as a jiu-jitsu world champion, while Jandiroba debuted in the UFC in 2019 as a former Invicta FC champion.

Jandiroba, 37, had success taking Dern down to t

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