Mackenzie Dern is set to take on Tecia Torres in an interesting strawweight matchup at UFC 273. The fight is Dern's opportunity to bounce back from a loss and get back on track.

Both women are looking to use UFC 273 as a way to climb up the division. Tecia Torres is close to a title shot whilst Mackenzie Dern wants to bounce back and remind everyone how dangerous she is at all times.

“I think that this is a very important fight,” Dern told MMA Junkie. “Tecia is trying to get into the top five, I’m trying to cover my last fight that was a loss, so get back on the win streak, and I think it’s gonna be fireworks this fight.”

Tecia Torres is currently on a three-fight win streak with big wins over Angela Hill and Brianna Van Buren. UFC 273 will be her opportunity to move to four and become a title contender over Mackenzie Dern.

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“I think Tecia’s looking so good, I’m happy to be fighting her at this time in her career,” Dern said ahead of UFC 273. “I think she had gone from a losing streak, but just losing from all former champions so now she’s definitely kind of overwhelming the girls and that’s why I say this is gonna be a firework fight because I don’t know what’s gonna be her strategy, but I feel like she’s gonna come and try and overwhelm me like she’s been doing her last fights. I think we’re both just gonna try and get the respect we want from each other.”

Mackenzie Dern has been using the Marina Rodriguez fight to improve ahead of UFC 273. Tecia Torres presents similar difficulties and it will be her opportunity to show off the improvements.

“I definitely don’t want to go back to what I did with Marina where I walk forward, but I kind of walk back too,” Dern said. “Definitely I’m gonna keep walking forward too in this fight, and I see her doing the same thing, throwing her blitzes, she throws a lot of combinations and stuff like that. I definitely don’t see me going into this fight without getting hit or anything like that, but I’m definitely gonna go in and try and hit her too. That’s why I think this fight is gonna be so entertaining for everybody and it’s gonna be a big battle.”