The Mackenzie Dern era is in full swing in the strawweight division after a successful first title defense against Gillian Robertson at UFC 330 in Philadelphia. Yet despite the champion's relatively dominant effort this past weekend, Dern is far from happy. Speaking on Monday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show," Dern expressed that she was proud to get the unanimous decision win. But that’s about it. "I'm not happy with my performance. I think I've got so much to get better. I wish I did better," Dern acknowledged to Uncrowned. "I wasn't happy with my cardio, my endurance. I wasn't happy with my striking. I wasn't happy with my grappling. I wasn't happy. I should have done a lot of that stuff better. I should have finished that fight, honestly. But Gillian is very tough, too. Obviously I'm not trying to take anything from her, but I really think I should have finished that. I could have knocked her out, I could have submitted her — and I should have, as the champion. And what I know I'm capable of, and for whatever the future is for me. "If I fought that performance against someone else coming up, that wouldn't be good."
Robertson, while a viable top contender who rode a five-fight win streak into Saturday’s title bout, wasn't the expected first challenger for Dern. The distinction goes to former two-time UFC champion Zhang Weili, whose move up to flyweight last year led to Dern's coronation with an October win over Virna Jandiroba. Zhang ultimately lost her bid for flyweight gold against Valentina Shevchenko in November, which made her return to 115 pounds feel like an inevitability. It still might be, but in hindsight Dern believes the way the cards fell was probably for the best. "I don't think Zhang Weili has that good of grappling. I don't think her defense is that good. So, I don't know. MMA math is so crazy," Dern said. "But just me, cardio, endurance-wise, me as Mackenzie, I would not want to fight Zhang Weili feeling the way I felt in that fight [at UFC 330]." In regards to Robertson, Dern admitted she certainly built a healthy disdain for her UFC 330 foe more easily than she would’ve with the always-respectful Zhang. That's not to say trash talk was abundant from Robertson going into the title tilt, but some of her pre-fight comments and assessments of Dern rubbed the champion the wrong way. Had Dern's performance been stronger, she may have even rubbed salt in the wounds of Robertson's defeat.
"I'm like a super friendly person, so for me, [I] shook her hand and everything after the fight, but I was like, 'Be the bigger person right now,'" Dern said. "I felt like she did good and I was the one who didn't do good. I didn't want to talk any smack because I got the win, but I didn't have the performance I wanted to do against her, so I felt like she could have been like, 'Well, you couldn't even submit me.'" Dern will now await her next title challenger, whether or not it's the pound-for-pound great Zhang or someone else. She reiterated Monday that she still isn't calling out Zhang after the win, as she doesn't feel the matchup is needed to justify her own champ status. Ultimately, Dern is mostly eyeing the UFC’s next "amazing card" idea that Dana White teased during fight week. As for opponents, she's more concerned about location than anything else. "I don't think that I'm in the position to really pick fights," Dern said. "I'm the champion, so ... there's really nowhere to run. Most likely, they're going to be on a win streak, unless you're talking about the lightweights or the really heavy weights in the men's [divisions] — you can have a No. 10 fight for the belt that's way behind on the rankings. But whoever can kind of sell the fight or talks a lot can cut the line. There's not really anywhere to run. "I guess I would be more concerned if I was fighting in China and defending my belt. I'd be more concerned where I wanted to fight with my title defense rather than who. I’ve just got to be ready for all of them."