Though born in the United States, Dern, whose father is renowned Brazilian jiu jitsu competitor Wellington “Megaton” Dias, has split time between the U.S. and Brazil throughout her life, is fluent in both English and Portuguese, and represents Brazil when she competes inside the Octagon.
As such, it means that regardless of how things shake out this weekend, the first nation of the sport will claim another champion on Saturday, and Dern is extremely proud to be a part of the ever-expanding Brazilian legacy in the sport and in the UFC.
“In the strawweight division, I think in the Top 15, maybe eight are Brazilians,” stated Dern, hitting the mark with her numerical guess. “We have a lot of girls, a lot of Brazilians in general, and a lot, a lot of Brazilians coming in, so you can really tell that the fighting spirit is strong for Brazil. I feel like Brazil is very happy to get another champion, independent of who will be on October 25th, but we know that one of them will be Brazilian.
“I got into martial arts because of my dad, who’s Brazilian; that’s how I started Brazilian jiu jitsu, and that’s what got me to the UFC was because of my results in jiu jitsu,” she added. “I’m really happy to see just this wave of Brazilian, the (next) generation of Brazilians coming in and staying strong in the UFC, and so the best way I can represent Brazil is to be able to get the belt.”
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