Mackenzie Dern is on a roll right now, having picked up four consecutive wins in her last five fights. Most recently, she competed at UFC Vegas 23 on the April 10 card against Nina Nunes and secured a clinical submission win in the first round.
One of the things that Mackenzie Dern credits the most for her newfound success is her family.
Mackenzie Dern is married to Wesley Santos and he is a surfer by profession. Along with Santos, Dern has a one-year-old daughter, Moa.
The 24-year old Brazilian occasionally appears on social media posts of Mackenzie Dern and is seen supporting his wife in training. The family was seen enjoying a day at the beach in January this year, where Wesley Santos took their little bundle of joy for a ride out into the ocean as well.
The couple usually like to keep their private lives under wraps. However, on one particular occasion not too long ago, Wesley Santos came under the limelight of mixed martial arts media for a scuffle with the Black House team.
The time when Mackenzie Dern's husband got into a fight fight with an MMA coach
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, Mackenzie 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 the 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."
Mackenzie Dern partnered up with striking coach Jason Parillo following the incident, which so far has proved nothing but beneficial for her career.
