Top-ranked strawweight contender Denise Gomes believes she has done enough to earn a shot at the UFC title against Mackenzie Dern after knocking out perennial contender Yan Xiaonan in such devastating fashion back in August.
“I’m ready. I’ve already proven it, I’ve already shown it. There’s a lot more where that came from,” Gomes told MMA Fighting. “Start with what I did in my last fight. None of the girls at the top have done what I did. That says a lot about me already. What do the fans want to see?
What do the people on the other side of the screen, who take time out of their day to sit in the stands and watch, want to see? What I’ve been delivering: violence and intelligence. That alone is a huge reason. I deserve it.”
The 26-year-old is 7-2 in the UFC with four knockouts to her credit and currently rides a five-fight winning streak with a pair of finishes. Tatiana Suarez recently won a decision over Virna Jandiroba to call for a shot at the belt, but Gomes doesn’t see her or other 115-pounders scoring exciting finishes like hers.
“The other girls haven’t been delivering that,” Gomes said. “Mackenzie and Zhang haven’t been delivering that in their recent fights either. They always put on great fights, but not what I’ve been delivering. This division needs an upgrade. Whether Zhang comes back or not, to be completely honest, I deserve a title shot. I want to fight, and I want to fight Zhang because, to me, she’s one of the best. She still is. I want to fight the best. It would be an honor for me. I’m not taking anything away from Mackenzie. She’s there, she’s already fought for and defended the belt, but if I beat her, I want to fight Zhang. I want to fight all the other girls too.”
“We need to shake things up at the top of this division and bring more knockouts,” she added. “That’s how we generate a lot more excitement in our rankings. I’ll never disrespect any of the girls, they’re all tough as hell, but I deserve this opportunity. They’re making things happen in their own way, but nobody wants to see nothing but grappling and jiu-jitsu. I bring a lot more than that.”
Dern won a decision over Jandiroba in October of 2025 to claim the vacant title and has since defended it against Gillian Robertson this past August, another five-round decision. The jiu-jitsu ace scored submissions in five of her 12 octagon victories, but Gomes remains confident in her grappling skills to not only survive on the ground, but bring her problems.
“I’ve been fighting these girls in my head for a long time,” Gomes said. “I had to go out there and put my name at the top, and I’m aware of that, but now I want to move up and plant my flag there. I can always see ways to get a knockout, I can always see ways to finish a fight. Mackenzie is a perfect matchup for that because, like Jessica [Andrade] did, I can use the weapons I have and break her game.
“She’s good at jiu-jitsu. People might think jiu-jitsu is my weakness, but it’s not. I’m very good at jiu-jitsu. I just hadn’t perfected it for MMA yet. Even if she wants to take me to the ground, I have the weapons to deal with that. But I’ve learned how to fight smart lately, combine my aggression with intelligence, and for this fight, I’m going to shut down her game, neutralize everything she might want to do, and impose my own game.”
Regardless of who’s standing across the cage when she enters the octagon next, Gomes vows to make her “pay” for the fact she was not awarded with a $100,000 performance bonus check for the Xiaonan victory.
“They want us to do what we do, deliver a hard fight and do incredible things, and when we do that, we’re not valued as much. That’s how I felt,” Gomes said. “I even joke that I think the only thing I didn’t do that was moonwalk. Not taking anything away from any fighter, obviously, everyone earned their recognition, but I know I deserved it just as much as anyone else. But I look at it this way: someone’s going to have to pay for it, right? I have a bonus that’s been building up. I’m going to fight, I’m going to score an incredible knockout in my next fight, and I’m going to say, ‘I have another bonus that’s been building up. If I had to do it twice to deserve it, I came here and did it.’ I take this as motivation, not as playing the victim.”
