UFC Star Mackenzie Dern In Workout Gear Says “Face Off Done”

Mackenzie Dern, the professional UFC fighter, loves to go to the beach. Naturally, she loves to break out her swimsuits. Dern just posted a new photo on Instagram of herself lounging in the sand. She wore a bright yellow bathing suit, and captioned the post with a matching heart emoji. "Amazing," said one fan. How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Mackenzie Dern stays in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don't miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!

1. She’s Focused

In fighting, it’s important to be focused and have the right mindset. Dern tells the NYPost that she always prepares herself for a fight. “I think the mindset needs to be, when I’m going in to fight these girls, they’re not thinking about if their daughter’s, you know, is their daughter OK? Are they crying? Are they hungry? Or anything like that. They’re just focused on beating me, on winning, on [landing] the punches. And so, I think the mindset definitely changed and it’s gonna get me there to be champ material.

2. She’s Motivated

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Dern has a daughter, and she tells the New York Post that being a mother has made her more motivated. “I’m way more focused. I want to win my fights. I want to do good. I want to have good performances. And having someone depend on you, my daughter, it’s not just me.”

3. She Builds Muscle

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Being a professional fighter, you have to have muscle. Naturally, Dern tells the NYPost that she does a lot of strength training and building muscle. “I’m getting muscle, I’m working my strength training, and I’m keeping my body fat low. I’m in a way better place now, thankfully.” Reminder: "Strength training results in specific physiological adaptations. During the initial phase of a strength-training program, noticeable gains are made due to something called neural adaptability, which is an increase in the recruitment of motor units. As the nervous system becomes more efficient and recruiting more motor units, more force is produced. These initial adaptations are often falsely interpreted as muscle size increases," says ACE Fitness.

4. She Loves The Beach

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Dern loves to spend time at the beach. She tells the New York Post that her ideal day would be, “Go surf then after get a tan. Just relax on the beach tanning. I like to just lay in the sun.” "An estimated 1 billion people worldwide, across all ethnicities and age groups, have a vitamin D deficiency (VDD). This pandemic of hypovitaminosis D can mainly be attributed to lifestyle (for example, reduced outdoor activities) and environmental (for example, air pollution) factors that reduce exposure to sunlight, which is required for ultraviolet-B (UVB)-induced vitamin D production in the skin," says one study.

5. She Doesn’t Think She’ll Meet Her Goals Right Away

Dern is publicly trying to get into a certain weightclass. She tells Gracie Magazine that this is a long process, and that she doesn’t expect results right away. “You can’t be overconfident,” she says. That’s what got in my way regarding the scale leading up to UFC 224 in Rio; many unexpected things happened at the camp, but I always remained convinced that I was going to suffer but was going to hit the weight… And in the end, it didn’t work out.

UFC star Tracy Cortez has always been a force to be reckoned with in the ring, but now she’s even more focused and dedicated to the fight. Cortez, 30, shared pictures of herself wearing purple shorts and a white sports bra, lifting heavy weights at the gym. She also shared an image with the text “Welcome to my one-woman show, where you watch me do whatever I want.” Cortez overhauled her entire training and fighting regime over the last year and feels stronger than ever—here’s how she did it.

1. Training In Brazil

Cortez went to Brazil in 2023 to take her fighting to the next level. “I’ve been working on everything. Mostly I want to say just sharpening up my wrestling, keeping it sharp. My striking, I’ve been working on my striking a lot,” Cortez said during a Noche UFC Athlete Panel, via Cageside Press. “I went over to Brazil for a while, trained with the Pitbull brothers. I just grew. Got out of my comfort zone. I wanted to evolve not just as a person but as an athlete. I just felt like it was time. I’ve been really trying to evolve overall… I’m very confident in my wrestling, I’m very confident on my ground. I believe it’s pretty difficult to take me down and if you do, it’s going to be difficult to keep me down.”

2. Love For the Ring

Cortez feels a renewed love for fighting. “This year really fueled me and gave me that spark in my heart again,” she told UFC.com. “I've seen the growth not just outside the cage, but in the cage. My coaches have seen the growth, and I'm really confident in my team. I don’t believe I would be the athlete I am without them.”

3. Ready To Fight

Cortez stayed in Brazil for as long as she thought necessary. “I’ve known Patricio [Pitbull] for quite a time now. When he does come to Fight Ready, he’s such a good teacher, he’s always giving me new tools to work and to practice so I can get better,” she said during the Athlete Panel. “It kind of just hit me where I was ready to try something new, get out of my element. I shot him a message, and he told me, he said ‘come on by.’ So I went over to Brazil, stayed over there for a while, came back, told my coaches ‘hey, I’m ready to come back, now it’s time.'”

4. Celebrating Her Heritage

Cortez is thrilled to celebrate Mexican Independence Day with UFC Noche. “I don't like being emotional when I go in there, but I definitely am going to take it in when I walk out,” she told UFC.com. “I'm going to take it in. I'm going to take in all the energy, all the vibes. I'm going to feel the crowd’s energy, because Mexicans, they go hard for their fans.”

5. Big Dreams

Cortez is determined to take her fighting to the next level. “I do believe I have what it takes,” she told UFC.com. “Once they ingrained that in my brain, and I start seeing it, and I feel great, that's what happened. After having my injuries and being laid off for so long and having that itch to come back, it was like, ‘OK, I'm gonna come back, and what? Just accept a fight? No, I’m going to come back, and I’m going to make a statement.’”

Former UFC Octagon Girl Arianny Celeste enjoyed a beautiful weekend hiking in Las Vegas with her friends and family. Celeste, 38, shared a number of pictures of herself in the great outdoors, including one of her wearing black yoga pants and a gray crop top, posing out on a beautiful desert trail. “Peaceful weekend with my people 💗 #grateful #blessed #family #godfirst,” she captioned the post. Here’s how Celeste stays fit, healthy, and strong.

1. Not a Fighter

Arianny Celeste/Instagram

Celeste has never had interest in actually fighting. “I do train MMA,” she told Alain Fournier of MMA Nouvelles. “I do Muay Thai kickboxing, but I would never fight, it’s not my thing. I wouldn’t want to compete. I’ll leave that to the fighters.”

2. Returning to the Ring?

Celeste isn’t ruling out returning to the ring. “I wouldn’t mind (one final time). I still feel great in a bikini and I work out all the time, so it’s not a matter of if I’m ready,” she told MMA Junkie Radio. “But I guess if the fans would want to see it, they have to ask the boss. That would be incredible (to work Noche UFC at The Sphere in Las Vegas in September). I’ve never been to that place, but it looks really, really cool. Maybe we’ll have to start a campaign with the fans and see if they can tell Dana.”

3. Picky Eater

Celeste is picky with her food and only recently tried steak for the first time. “I had my first taste of steak, so that just tells you I’m not real adventurous when it comes to food,” she told MMA Junkie Radio. “I eat fish and some chicken and some meat. I’m more of a texture person. The texture of a steak I’m not really fond of. Back in the day when I was a kid, my parents would take me to carne asada all the time, and I would literally tell them to burn the meat until it was almost like beef jerky.”

5. Retiring From the Ring

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Celeste was ready to retire from ring duties after becoming a mother. “I feel like I outgrew the whole ring girl thing and I became a woman – I became a mom and I was like, ‘There has to be something that I can do that’s a little bit more fulfilling within the company,’ and I went ahead and pitched a show to Dana (White) and Craig Borsari, and they loved it. So here I am,” she told MMA Junkie Radio. “I wasn’t expecting to put the ring card girl thing down forever, but I think once Britney (Palmer) did, I was like, OK, I’m cool with it.”

4. Health and Fitness

Celeste was proud to represent a healthy lifestyle as an Octagon Girl. “The UFC always promotes a healthy, sexy lifestyle,” she told Alain Fournier of MMA Nouvelles. “I think that’s the main point. We promote health and fitness, and that’s what the UFC is all about.”