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Mackenzie Dern is trying to find her rhythm once again as she prepares to fight Amanda Ribas at UFC Vegas 101, scheduled to take place on Jan. 11. Dern is coming off a unanimous decision win over Loopy Godinez after going through a tumultuous phase in her personal and professional life.
One of the things that the Brazilian has always credited for the success is her family. Dern was married to Wesley Santos, with whom, she has a daughter, Moa, born in 2019.
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Who is Mackenzie Dern's ex-husband
Wesley Santos, Mackenzie Dern's ex-husband, is a surfer by profession. He occasionally appeared on Dern's social media posts and was seen supporting his wife in training. In one of the older posts, the family was seen enjoying a day at the beach, where Santos took their little bundle of joy for a ride out into the ocean as well.
The couple usually liked to keep their private lives under wraps. However, they separated in 2022 and were legally divorced in the months that followed. Their divorce became a much-publicized affair that garnered a lot of media attention.
The time when Mackenzie Dern's husband got into a fight with an MMA coach
On one particular occasion, Wesley Santos came under the limelight of mixed martial arts media for a scuffle with the Black House team. Mackenzie Dern changed her team ahead of her fight with Randa Markos in September 2020 because of a financial dispute with one of her Black House coaches.
Narrating the story on the What the Heck show, Dern herself detailed what transpired in the showdown. Her now former coach Juan Gomez had called Dern and Santos down to the academy because he was not satisfied with his bonus for Dern's previous fight.
However, instead of talking it out in a civil manner, Gomez decided to take things too far and attacked Dern's husband. That's when things got out of hand. Much to Dern's surprise, Santos fought back in a technically sound manner instead of having a brawl.
"So my husband talked to him. My husband’s like this surfer guy, you know, totally good vibes, afro, definitely not the fighter style. He went to go talk to him and [Gomez] was just like, ‘No, if you want to come to the academy, come to the academy and we’ll talk,’ and hung up. We went to the academy and he just swept dirt onto my husband, pushed him, and my husband pushed him back and they just went into a fistfight. It wasn’t like a brawl, a crazy brawl, it was like a street fight or technical fistfight. Back and forth, my husband’s doing feints, and I’m like, ‘Where’s he learning all this?’ It was so crazy."
On the professional front, Dern seems to be getting back on track after the divorce and subsequent public drama. The UFC Vegas 101 fight against Amanda Ribas marks the rematch of their first meeting that took place in October 2019. Ribas handed Dern her first professional MMA defeat by unanimous decision. Heading into the rematch, Ribas is a -171 favorite while Dern is a +146 underdog.
