Mackenzie Dern struggled to make weight for MMA bouts earlier in her career, coming in over the limit more than once. That concern, however, seems to be a thing of the past.
Displaying phenomenal shape since returning from pregnancy in 2019, Dern has transformed her body with the assistance of experienced conditioning coach Rogerio Camoes, who previously worked with middleweight legend Anderson Silva throughout his historic reign in the UFC.
Dern, the No. 5 strawweight in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings, is set to return against Tecia Torres at UFC 273 this Saturday, and Camoes, who has been working with Dern for her past two bouts, promises no drama at Friday’s official weigh-ins in Jacksonville, Fla.
“She does not need to worry about her past or her weight loss, even though it was difficult,” Camoes said to MMA Fighting. Because of all the hard work that we did for one year, Mackenzie’s reality regarding weight loss is now completely different. This is my third camp with Mackenzie, and over this period of time she has caught everyone’s attention because of her shape, completely renewed, making weight really well and fighting really well, too. After a year of hard work, her body is completely changed .”
The “drastic” changes to her body, Camoes said, include reducing her body fat by 50 percent and gaining 11 pounds of muscle without changing her walk-around weight of 123. 5 pounds.
“When I started working with Mackenzie, she weighed 123. 5 pounds but had 22 percent body fat,” he said. “Now, she has the same weight but the great transformation was that she gained 11 pounds of muscle. Her body fat has fallen a lot. The last evaluation we did, before we started cutting weight [for UFC 273], she had 11 percent body fat.”
Camoes first started working work with Dern ahead of her UFC win over Nina Nunes in April 2021 and the partnership resulted in an “excellent” weight cut. Even though Dern was defeated in five rounds by Marina Rodriguez, six months later the conditioning coach stated that Dern’s weight loss was remarkable. She had reached the limit without ever having to use a sauna or tub and was already on the scales on Friday morning.
“Mackenzie has no need to worry about her weight cut now,” Camoes said, “because she has transformed herself into an athlete with a whole team behind her, with myself and her nutritionist, Dr. Katia Nogueira. That gives her more confidence.”
Camoes stated that they had gone through “experience” in order to ensure Dern was stronger within the octagon. They consider wrestling one of the strengths of the Torres.
” “I am certain she will fight anywhere she wishes and win,” Camoes stated of Dern. “She has the physical condition to take [Torres] wherever and end this fight with her hands raised.”
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