If Weili Zhang beats Valentina at 125, does that validate Mackenzie Dern as the real #1 strawweight?

[Dreyga Hates You Sherbums]

Alright, Sherbums, let’s play hypotheticals for a second.

If Weili Zhang goes up and actually beats Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight strap, doesn’t that kind of instantly validate whoever’s holding the strawweight belt — in this case, Mackenzie Dern?

Think about it: if Weili wins and stays at 125, then by pure logic the current 115 champ becomes the best strawweight in the world, right? That’s lineal MMA math, baby.

Or are you all gonna cope and say “nah, Dern still mid”?


Curious to see where the Sherbums land on this one.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

Wouldn't Dern need a win over Weili to be called " The Real " #1 Strawweight ?

 

[Dreyga Hates You Sherbums]

Wouldn't Dern need a win over Weili to be called " The Real " #1 Strawweight ?

Charles never beat Khabib, Blahowics never beat Jon, Illia never beat Islam, Tom never beat Ngannou/Jones, Whittaker never beat Bisping/GSP

If Weili never returns can she really be considered the best Straweight??

 

[JoeRowe]

Wouldn't Dern need a win over Weili to be called " The Real " #1 Strawweight ?

Not if Zhang retires after UFC 322, which I believe she will. I also think Islam will retire win or lose.

 

[Ibm]

Weili vs Valentina may be the best WMMA matchup of all time. This is such a superfight people dont give credit for. Zang will overpower Valentina

 

[Hymen Crusher]

Its a joke division and dern is as good as Carla

 

[CC27]

Dern already is, same with Toupria. Once you give up the belt and leave the div you dont keep that status the rest of your life. Same way nobody says oh Bam aint the best 115er in boxing becaue INoue once held the belt. No, you give it up and move on someone else is taking over.

now if either of them lose and come back then yes they'd be considered the best in the div even without the belt but until then shes a flyweight and he's a WW.

I dont know if Dern will keep the belt long, can she beat Suarez or even Rose if she comes back to SW but she's got the belt right now.

 

[xhaydenx]

Zhang is now a FLW and Dern has the SW belt.

So Dern is the #1 SW in the world right now.

But that's probably only going to last until her first title defense. Virna was the easiest matchup in the top 5 for her, and it's not like she blew Virna away.

 

[Lee Danger]

Rose WMMA GOAT confirmed

 

[Hdfi]

I voted yes. Dern is the champion, and Weili would no longer be at strawweight division, so technically she wouldn't be above Dern in the updated rankings.

 

[Pascal Bergeron]

Charles never beat Khabib, Blahowics never beat Jon, Illia never beat Islam, Tom never beat Ngannou/Jones, Whittaker never beat Bisping/GSP

If Weili never returns can she really be considered the best Straweight??

khabib, GSP and Jones all retired so their successor were the rightful champ
Ilia is still consider by many to not be the best LW until he defends 2-3 time and its clear that Islam is gone from lightweight forever

 

[Mammothman]

 

[mkess101]

Zhang is now a FLW and Dern has the SW belt.

So Dern is the #1 SW in the world right now.

But that's probably only going to last until her first title defense. Virna was the easiest matchup in the top 5 for her, and it's not like she blew Virna away.

They'll probably give her Suarez, which stylistically is the one that Dern actually may beat. I don't know if Tatiana can play that wrestling game for 5 rounds without getting subbed or swept to a horrible position. And Dern's striking is probably good enough to beat Tatiana standing.

 

[El Fernas]

She is the champion, the previous fighter who vacated is the #1, Dern wins one and then loses 1, UFC needs to stop with all that vacating.

 

[Juchi]

Wouldn't Dern need a win over Weili to be called " The Real " #1 Strawweight ?

Not if Weili doesn't hold the title. Of course if we were talking about #! SW GOAT, that's a different story.

 

[Juchi]

Zhang is now a FLW and Dern has the SW belt.

So Dern is the #1 SW in the world right now.

But that's probably only going to last until her first title defense. Virna was the easiest matchup in the top 5 for her, and it's not like she blew Virna away.

Why would Virna be the easiest match up for her when Virna was dominant against both Yann and Lemos?

 

[xhaydenx]

Why would Virna be the easiest match up for her when Virna was dominant against both Yann and Lemos?

I know it seems weird at first, but it's just the way they all match up.

Lemos, Andrade, and Yan all had power to at least deter Dern on the feet. Andrade had enough to finish her.

Virna doesn't have that same power. Virna has grappling.

Dern isn't afraid of being put on her back by anyone. The threat of being taken down by a fellow BJJ girl is never going to stop Dern from fighting however she wants. We saw this in the actual fight. She didn't care about anything Virna did either on the feet or on top on the ground.

It was the same dynamic the first time they fought as well. Virna is just a great matchup for Dern.