Conor McGregor wants to see a trilogy fight between Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas.
The women headlined UFC‘s first event of 2025 as Dern avenged her first-ever defeat in Dana White‘s promotion.
Dern got Ribas to the ground in the last 30 seconds of the third round during their main event and punished her with multiple devastating elbows.
She then manipulated the arm and forced her Brazilian counterpart to tap out instantly in what was a jiujitsu masterclass.
“Great fight! Awesome showcase!” McGregor said on X in response to the fight.
“Mackenzie Dern, Amanda RIbas, an excellent rivalry between the two Brazilians!
“So good! 1 a piece now, I would definitely love to see this trilogy!”
He then reacted to an image of Dern’s armbar finish, labelling the submission as ‘awesome’.
Dern made her UFC debut in 2018 and has bounced back from consecutive defeats to put her name in title shot contention after submitting Ribas,
Ribas was victorious over Dern in 2019 on a UFC Fight Night Card, but has now lost her last two bouts to the latter and Rose Namajunas.
However, Dern still wants to have one more fight before taking on women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili, who fights Tatiana Suarez at UFC 312 in February.
“I think I’m very hard on myself,” she said. “I’m always trying to get better.
“Even when I have a great performance, I think I did so many things wrong. I think that it’s a lot of play messing in your head, so it can take your journey and maybe make it a little longer.
“But I think in the end, it really helps you evolve to be the best fighter possible if you can really look back and have constructive criticism on yourself.
“My idea isn’t to go fight for the belt and then lose it fast. My idea is to get the belt, and I want to be a dominant champion.
“I’m not in a rush to get there. I want to have good fights and I want to make a statement.”
McGregor was spotted playing football over the weekend with his pub’s team Black Forge FC.
It appeared as if he played on the left wing, as he was filmed numerous times running down the line for his local side.
Before the match, he shared an image of his shiny, Nike, purple boots with the caption: ‘Today we ball’.
He followed up: “I break jaws with my shoulder, and noses. I get the ball any pitch, anywhere. Moses.”
The former dual-weight UFC champions hasn’t fought in White’s promotion since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in July 2021.
Elsewhere at UFC’s first event of 2025, Roman Kopylov went through hell and high water to get his victory.
Kopylov defeated fellow middleweight Chris Curtis on the main card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas for UFC Fight Night 249.
UFC President White shared photos on Instagram after the bout, which showed Kopylov’s devastating wound despite his victory.
“Tonight’s card was incredible!” he wrote. “Respect to the entire card tonight.”
The Russian is now tied with Israel Adesanya and Gregory Rodrigues for the most UFC knockouts among active middleweights.