Back in July, Mackenzie Dern made her MMA debut, and drew a lot of praise from fans and pundits. This included teammate Benson Henderson, who said the very marketable and decorated BJJ world champion can easily be a huge star, bigger than Ronda Rousey.
Even with high expectations set for the 23-year-old strawweight, she still managed to impress even more during her second MMA bout this weekend. Dern took on a 6-2 fighter in Montana Stewart at the co-main event of Legacy FC 61, and she managed to pull off an incredibly rare submission.
Watch Dern twist her opponent in a pretzel and secure a nifty omoplata-rear naked choke finish.
The somewhat rare submission finish in MMA was also pulled off by Masakatzu Imanari back in 2009.
In 2013, it was also done at Bellator 99 by another Japanese fighter in Goiti Yamauchi.
Dern has also been active in grappling recently, headlining Fight to Win Pro 12 alongside his teammate in Henderson last month. She has gone on record in the past, saying that her goal is to join the UFC and gun for the belt in 2017.