The strawweights spent the first few minutes feeling each other out in space, both offering tepid range-finders, but neither throwing anything of real substance early in this potential five-round affair.
Rodriguez landed with the first clean strike midway through the round, touching Dern’s lead leg with a low kick. Dern pressed forward, closing the distance soon after, getting stuck in an odd position where Rodriguez landed a sharp elbow to the midsection, doing a very good job to maintain control of the exchange. Rodriguez stuck a front kick and a long right hand into Dern’s midsection, then hit her with a counter right up top off a lazy Dern jab late int he round, closing out the frame with another sharp knee to the belly.
Dern crashed forward behind pawing strikes immediately to start the second, but Rodriguez worked off the fence without issue. The former Brazilian jiu jitsu world champion remained aggressive and initiate the clinch once more, landing in side control out of a scramble, giving herself plenty of time to work on the canvas. Working off her back, Rodriguez attacked a D’arce choke, forcing Dern to defend, only to lose the hold midway through the round and end up stuck in a crucifix position.
Rodriguez tried to roll to safety, but the flexible and technically sharp Dern climbed onto her back, transitioning to mount and connecting with ground-and-pound late in the frame. Rodriguez survived, but it was a dominant five minutes for the surging Dern.
Rodriguez looked to dictate the terms of engagement to start the third, attacking the lead leg with a low kick and getting loose with her hands a little more, missing the mark, but showing more urgency than she did through the first two rounds. A high kick was partially blocked by Dern, but Rodriguez was found a home for a right, controlling the exchanges and making Dern pay for lazy offerings in space.
With Dern slowing and over-extending on her strike attempts, Rodriguez did a good job of sticking and moving, landing clean shots and getting out into open space without taking any return fire. Dern didn’t look to close the distance util there were 30 seconds left in the frame and Rodriguez not only defended well, but scored with strikes in tight, responding well after a tough second round.
Rodriguez took the center to begin the fourth round, snapping home clean, crisp strikes to start before a kick attempt landed low and brought the fight to a momentary halt. On the re-start Rodriguez got right back after it, crashing home a low kick and forcing Dern to come forward with rushed striking attempts, making her pay each time she did.
Just when Dern started having a little bit of success, Rodriguez responded with a knee to the midsection, shutting down Dern’s forward pressure. A clean right hand backed the grappling standout up midway through the round, and while she showed impressive tenacity in taking everything coming her way, Rodriguez started pulling away in the second half of the frame.
But with 40 seconds remaining in the round, Dern forced a collision that resulted in the fighters landing on the ground with Dern in mount, but once again, Rodriguez was able to survive a potentially dangerous exchange on the canvas to arrive at the fifth round with momentum on her side.
Dern listened to her head coach Jason Parillo and came forward with urgency to start the fifth, but Rodriguez’s ability to control the range and shine on the feet remained key, as she avoided Dern’s approach and landed several meaningful strikes through the opening 90 seconds of the final round.
A left hand from Rodriguez got Dern’s attention and stopped her coming forward momentarily, with a slip seconds later nearly resulting in Rodriguez landing on the canvas. Rodriguez went searching with a right hand with two minutes remaining, backing Dern up towards the cage, chasing it with a long combination that kept Dern moving away. As Dern tried to come forward behind a winging right, Rodriguez ducked under to safety.
Dern again closed the distance in the final minute, securing double underhooks along the fence late in the fight, but Rodriguez remained upright, broke feee and finished the fight throwing offence through to the horn.
This was a tremendous showing from Rodriguez and a quality learning experience for Dern, with the Muay Thai stylist cementing her standing as a legitimate contender in the 115-pound weight class with her third win of 2021.
Official Result: Marina Rodriguez def. Mackenzie Dern by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46, 49-46)