Jason Parillo welcomes Zhang Weili as Mackenzie Dern's first title defense.
Dern (16-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC) claimed the vacant strawweight title by defeating Virna Jandiroba at UFC 321 last month. The 115-pound belt was relinquished by Zhang Weili, who moved up to flyweight to challenge Valentina Shevchenko, but fell short at UFC 322.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementParillo expects Weili (26-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) to drop back down to her original weight class and attempt to regain her belt against Dern – at least that's what he'd like to see.
"I would love to see her fight Weili. I want her to fight Weili," Parillo told MMA Junkie Radio. "As a matter of fact, after she beat (Amanda) Ribas, I'm like, 'I would like to see us get one more fight before we fight for the title' because it would have been our third fight back after our little break up there, and I still wanted her to be settled down a little bit more. And you know what? We got that fight. It was for the title, and she won it. Now I've got to believe in my heart of hearts, and she's got to believe in her heart of hearts. Most importantly, she's got to stay in the gym."
Weili was dominated and outgrappled by Shevchenko, who looked like the much larger and stronger fighter.
"I definitely anticipate her coming down just because she was shutout so cleanly," Parillo said of Weili. "And sure, size. Size of course – I mean that's why we have weight classes. That was a 10-pound jump. I mean in that small of a division, to do a 10-pound jump is pretty significant. Size comes into play, but Valentina's control of distance, she's always been a very high-level fighter as far as understanding that. She comes from that world, and she applies it geniously to the MMA game, and she just controlled Weili."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Who Mackenzie Dern's coach prefers as first UFC title defense
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