2016 was a huge year for Mackenzie Dern, the jiu-jitsu world has known for years what a special talent the World Champion black belt was but last year the ever growing MMA audience was introduced as well. Racking up a quick record of 2-0 and taking home submission of the year accolades her arrival turned a lot of heads within the MMA sphere.

But jiu-jitsu hasn't lost her yet. This past weekend at the IBJJF European Championship the Gracie Humaita submission hunter started her 2017 off with a bang! Once again she impressed the crowd with her exciting relentless pace and won her third straight black belt featherweight gold.

Mackenzie Dern vs Carolina Carriello

But Mackenzie has been open about what her goals are for the 2017 season, absolute divisions. The open weight class is the most coveted title in jiu-jitsu, it's the crux of the sport essentially. Despite always being the lightest girl in the bracket Dern has made a name for herself fighting and beating much larger opponents.

I won a lot of the titles I wanted in my weight division, so my goal really has to win absolute.

Perhaps her most well known win to date was over the Alliance goliath Gabi Garcia. After many one sided battles the featherweight prodigy won a 0-0 match during the absolute division at the Abu Dhabi World Pro.

Since then she has won absolute titles at no-gi worlds, and taken silver at the Pan American and World Championships. In Lisbon, Portugal last weekend she took third losing an incredibly exciting match to the super heavyweight Tayane Porfirio. A girl she has now lost to three times in the past year, similarly to Gabi Garcia it's clear a rivalry is starting to build.

Mackenzie Dern vs Tayane Porfirio

If there is one thing we know for sure about Mackenzie Dern it's that she is a competitor who pursues victory at all costs. That is what has made her a star in both jiu-jitsu and MMA. She welcomes a challenge and Porfirio presents one she hasn't seen since Gabi left the scene to pursue her own MMA career.

In the mean time Mackenzie Dern is scheduled to take on Pati Fontes in the main event of Fight to Win Pro 25 on February 4th. The super fight will be in her home town of Phoenix Arizona and with MMA luring her further and further from Brazilian jiu-jitsu, one has to wonder if this will be on of the last times we see the multiple time champion in our sport.

To me however it's clear Mackenzie Dern doesn't like to lose. Maybe this will be enough to keep her around a few more years.

Mackenzie Dern vs Rossie Snow