With the preliminary card of the second UFC Pay-Per-View of the year, UFC 298, already over, fans have had quite a lot of things to talk about. The UFC fandom has been treated to a blistering event up until now, and the Main Card is not even completed yet.
The last fight on the preliminary card featured Brazilian-American Mackenzie Dern taking on Amanda ‘Amandinha’ Lemos. The women’s strawweight bout lasted the whole 15 minutes to be decided on the judges’ scorecards. Coming into the fight, Lemos was ranked #3 in the women’s strawweight division. While her opponent, Dern, was ranked #7 in her division.
Both fighters seemed quite reserved in their approach, with both landing a similar number of strikes. With Lemos leading strikingly in significant strikes, she landed with 41 to Dern’s measly 21. While Dern might have had more ground control, that wasn’t enough to sway the decision in her favor.
Mackenzie Dern thought she got the decision #UFC298 pic.twitter.com/7OVK4totM3
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) February 18, 2024
The widespread consensus on the internet about the fight would suggest that the fight itself was nothing special. Just a regular decision victory for the winner without much to talk about. But what stands out is what happened after the fight concluded.
Fans react to Mackenzie Dern mistakenly celebrating the judges’ decision
Bruce Buffer celebrated his 28 years with the UFC today. While the 66-year-old American announcer has delivered many iconic moments in the UFC, he topped off his 28 years with the organization with an unknowingly funny moment. While it wasn’t the announcer who was being funny, he surely was involved in what ensued after the fight finished.
Mackenzie Dern seemed to have wrongly celebrated Bruce Buffer’s announcement of the decision. It was announced that Amanda Lemos won the fight via unanimous decision, with all the judges scoring 29-28. But this didn’t stop Mackenzie Dern from allegedly celebrating as the decision was announced. Only realizing what happened a bit, it was too late.
Soon enough, videos of her reaction to the decision found their way all over the internet. And netizens didn’t waste a second roasting the 30-year-old strawweight. One fan tweeted, “She thought her name was Amanda,” while another said, “Concussed bad.” One fan made fun of her troubles with the language, saying “the English language vs Mackenzie Dern saga is baffling”.
Another user furthered the language barrier saga by commenting, “Maybe she needs a translator lol.” One fan talked about how it might’ve been Lemos who caused that indecision from Dern; the fan expressed, “Lemos hit her that hard she changed her name.” While another said, “Bruce really swindled her on that one,” finding the moment funny on Bruce’s part.
While the fight might not have been up to the mark as many wanted it to be, the subsequent drama sure was. And while it sure was unexpected, it did give fans a little bit of extra entertainment.