Marina Rodriguez will likely overtake Mackenzie Dern into the official UFC strawweight top-five rankings off the back of tonight’s UFC Vegas 39 — handing the streaking, Dern a unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) loss in the headlining bout.
A very promising opening round for the #6 ranked, Rodriguez, who appears to have the clear and definite striking advantage when compared with Dern.
The Brazilian manages to out-strength Dern during a brief clinch exchange at the fence as well, before the pair separate.
A hugely dominant second round from Dern, who manages to get Rodriguez’s back in a scramble, and almost set up a couple of armbars, even posturing up in full mount and raining down with ground strikes. Some good control time from the grappler as well. Possibly a 10-8 round for Dern even.
Rodriguez gets the swing of things in the third round, largely picking Dern apart on the feet, with the latter appearing quite tired in the middle of this fight. Rodriguez attempting to set up a rear high kick as Dern freezes in the pocket.
Another impressive round for Rodriguez who now leaves Dern in need of a finish in the fifth if she’s to win this main event, however, the grappling talent once more fount full mount with half a minute left in the round, and attempted to isolate an arm before the klaxon sounded.
Taking the fifth round as well, Rodriguez manages to score a unanimous decision victory over Dern, halting the four-fight winning spree of the Arizona-born contender.
Below, catch the highlights from Rodriguez’s headlining win over Dern.
