Watch how Mackenzie Dern nearly submits Gillian Robertson with face-reddening choke to retain UFC 330 title; check viral video

Mackenzie Dern kept her hold on the strawweight crown with a unanimous decision win over Gillian Robertson in her first title defense at UFC 330 on Saturday night (August 15, 2026). Dern, now 17‑5, had claimed the vacant 115‑pound championship at UFC 321 and returned to the cage with a lopsided but lackluster victory. Judges scored the bout 49‑46 on two cards and 48‑47 on the third, giving Dern a successful start to her reign in the first of two championship fights on the card.

Dern nearly made Robertson (17-9) tap in the first round with a choke hold that turned the challenger’s face as pinkish-red as her braided hair. Dern might have won the bout had it stretched even another 30 seconds, but Robertson was saved by the bell. Too bad the fight didn't end there. “I wanted to get the submission with Gillian," Dern said, as quoted by news agency AP. "I definitely wanted to submit her. That was the goal.”

The next four rounds were relatively uneventful, and the title match slowed to a near complete stop as they mostly locked up on the canvas with barely a strike thrown. Dern's 7-year-old daughter peered her head over the barricade from her front row seat and shouted encouragement each time mom got close to her side of the cage. The little girl could be heard well over a rowdy crowd that had about been lulled into passiveness, and eventually, boos in the fifth round, in the humdrum title fight.



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