UFC reportedly targets Mackenzie Dern vs. Denise Gomes title fight for March

The UFC is targeting a strawweight title fight between champion Mackenzie Dern and Denise Gomes for March 2027, according to Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana, who reported it late on Monday, November 9. SB Nation picked up his report on Tuesday. The fight is not signed and the UFC hasn't announced it.

It would be Dern's second defense of the 115-pound belt. AgentMMA reports that no date or location has been set, and MMA Insight says there is no confirmation from the UFC. As of Tuesday, we found no comment from Dern or the promotion.

Gomes makes her case

Gomes, 26, made her own case on Tuesday. In an interview with MMA Fighting, carried by Heavy, she pointed straight at her last fight:

None of the girls at the top have done what I did.

She summed up her style as "violence and intelligence." In further comments reported by Heavy, she said: "Whether Zhang comes back or not, to be completely honest, I deserve a title shot." She also knocked the grappling-heavy fights at the top: "nobody wants to see nothing but grappling and jiu-jitsu." She added, "I'm not taking anything away from Mackenzie."

Gomes is 13-3, per our page, and No. 4 in the UFC's rankings. She has won five straight in the UFC, over Eduarda Moura, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Elise Reed, Tecia Pennington and Yan Xiaonan. She knocked Yan out with an elbow at 4:49 of the first round in the UFC Shanghai co-main event on August 29.

She closed as a +125 underdog that night. She is 7-2 across her nine UFC fights with odds and 4-1 as an underdog. A 1-unit bet on her every time at the closing price would have returned +5.99 units. That is past performance, not a return anyone can count on.

The champion

Dern, 33, is 17-5 and has won four straight. She won the vacant belt at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi on October 25, 2025, outpointing Virna Jandiroba, theScore reported. Dern had also beaten her in December 2020. The title was open because Zhang Weili gave it up to challenge Valentina Shevchenko at flyweight.

Her first defense came at UFC 330 in Philadelphia on August 15, a unanimous decision over Gillian Robertson, per Cageside Press. She closed at -215 for that one, according to our page. Afterwards she told Megan Olivi, "I definitely want to be active," Newsweek reported. At the post-fight press conference she named March as a target for her return, according to AgentMMA.

The two have never met, but they share three opponents. Yan beat Dern by five-round decision in October 2022. Gomes stopped Yan in one round. Dern beat Angela Hill in May 2023; Hill beat Gomes that November, and it is still Gomes's most recent loss. Both beat Pennington on the cards.

Where this leaves Suarez

Tatiana Suarez beat Jandiroba by unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 124 on November 7, Cageside Press reported. It was her third straight win since losing to Zhang in a February 2025 title fight. Afterwards she told reporters a Dern fight was "the fight to make," per Heavy. The UFC ranks Zhang No. 1 and Suarez No. 2, both ahead of Gomes.

Zhang, meanwhile, lost a lopsided decision to Shevchenko at UFC 322 in November 2025, Cageside Press reported, and hasn't fought since. AgentMMA reported in June that she was expected back at strawweight. Nothing has been booked since.

We think Suarez has the stronger claim on results: three straight wins over ranked opponents, the last over No. 3 Jandiroba, and her only pro loss came in a title fight. Gomes's case is the matchup. Dern has five UFC submission wins and no knockouts. A striker coming off a first-round finish is a sharper contrast than another grappling-heavy title fight.

Dern vs. Gomes has no odds on our site yet.