On Sunday afternoon, Mackenzie Dern lived up to the hype that has been surrounding her and took home gold at ADCC in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In a division that was stacked with talented grapplers, Dern rose to the top in style. Coming into this tournament, all eyes were on Mackenzie Dern and her fiercest adversary, Michelle Nicolini, who was hoping to get her revenge over Dern, who bested her at the World Championships.
With both Mackenzie Dern and Michelle Nicolini putting on impressive performances throughout the tournament, fans were treated to one of the most technical women’s brackets of all time.
ADCC Women’s -60kg
Official results:
1st place: Mackenzie Dern
2nd place: Michelle Niccolini
3rd place: Tammi Musumeci
What was the high point of the tournament?
This division was really strong. From the outset, all the competitors were ready to put on a display for the spectators, with frenzied highly-technical grappling. As far as a high point goes, it is impossible to look past Mackenzie Dern. All that Dern did was golden. From her toe hold against Kethe Engen in the opening round to her back-and-forth exchanges with Nicolini, Dern looked sharp and self assured.
Where do the finalists go from here?
Logic dictates that Mackenzie Dern’s time competing in jiu-jitsu is coming to an end. Dern has long teased of a potential MMA debut, with her strong personality and her exciting, submission-heavy grappling style she would be sure to keep fans excited. Expect Dern to compete at one or two more high profile tournaments before focusing solely on an MMA debut and the path toward the UFC’s bantamweight division.
Like Dern, Nicolini too plans on competing in MMA in the near future. Nicolini has fought professionally on 3 prior occasions, winning her first two fights before dropping a decision in her last fight at Legacy FC. While Dern seems to have her heart set solely on MMA, to me it appears more likely that Nicolini will focus of jiu-jitsu and will look to win the worlds before taking another crack at the ADCC title in 2017.
Watch now, later, or never?
Binge watch this right now. This was a really fun bracket.