Mackenzie Dern, elite jiu-jitsu practitioner and the headliner for UFC Vegas 39, has a lot to be grateful for. Her family, her rapid return to mixed martial arts after giving birth, and the support of the fans and the UFC are among them.
However, it was not always this smooth. When she announced her pregnancy, Dern lost fifty thousand Instagram followers, alienating a sizeable section of the primarily male MMA fanbase. Her thoughts? “Phew! I’ve cleaned it up!”
Mackenzie Dern on Losing Male Fans Due to Motherhood: “Phew, I’ve Cleaned Up!”
Dern told Portuguese-language podcast Trocação Franca that she was happy to see the back of a certain element of her fanbase, and welcomes the supportive female fans who have shown up in their absence.
“I’m still trying to grow [my fanbase] among women, but I think that’s coming naturally as I represent myself as mother, wife, and fighter.
But still, I lost 50,000 followers fast when I announced my pregnancy, and 80,000 total until my next fight, but that has definitely changed. The MMA community has more men than women so it’s impossible to have more women than men [as followers].”
I was deleting some photos of old sponsors, some old stuff, and thought, ‘Let me see if this person that commented here [was still following me],’ and he wasn’t.
And I started looking at several old photos and many people that commented things like, ‘You’re so hot’ and whatnot, most of them don’t follow me anymore. I was like, ‘phew, I’ve cleaned it up.’
Dern also referenced how some of her fellow fighters were making money on the side with fan subscription services, and explained why the likes of OnlyFans is not in her future.
““You see OnlyFans and things like that, I don’t judge those who have it, but it’s not my focus. My focus is to represent women and change that idea that the only women that can sell is women that are seen by people as beautiful because, to me, every woman is beautiful, every woman is pretty and everybody puts on a show.
There are women that don’t want to start in MMA because they are afraid of becoming too masculine and changing who they are, and other women are afraid of coming [to MMA] because men will only talk about their looks.
It’s a tricky process, you don’t like to cross a line with no one, but it will work out if you’re just being yourself. It’s working out for me at least.”
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