Mackenzie Dern believes she can achieve her championship aspirations if she makes one critical adjustment to her game entering UFC on ABC 7.

With back-to-back losses on her record for the first time, one might think Dern (13-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) would be struggling with confidence going into Saturday’s strawweight matchup with Loopy Godinez (12-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. However, that’s not the case.

In fact, Dern thinks she is on the cusp of her best days and most effective performances. But only if she can keep her emotions under control inside the octagon. Dern has been knocked down five times total in her two recent defeats, per UFC stats, against Amanda Lemos and Jessica Andrade, which she said was a product of getting too wild inside the cage.

Dern’s heart and durability cannot be questioned, and although she received praise from UFC CEO Dana White for her Fight of the Night battle with Lemos at UFC 298 in February, she said it’s not the approach required to reach the pinnacle of the sport.

“From my last fight, the biggest thing I’ve been trying to work on is just like control the emotions,” Dern told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “We kind of feel like that’s the biggest detail, what my losses are coming from. Not necessarily, ‘Oh, the technique isn’t there. Missing the wrestling. Missing the striking.’ Just that fact like, when you take a punch or something, sometimes I stay in a brawl and make the fight harder than what it needs to be.”

In order to keep her focus dialed in and “clean up” her emotional turbulence, Dern said she’s been working with a psychologist. She also brought her daughter to Abu Dhabi to fight week, which she said “keeps me more relaxed” as she ramps up for battle.

At 31, Dern thinks she still has plenty of time to make a run, starting with the fight against Godinez. She thinks the lessons absorbed through 13 octagon appearances have been immense, and she’s ready to be the fighter everyone expected her to be when she joined the UFC as an undefeated jiu-jitsu champion.

“I want to have a long career,” Dern said. “I want to be a champion. I would like to be like a two-weight class champion. Brawlers don’t really have that. They take the damage. … It’s just unnecessary.

“I always have that card in my back pocket if I need to brawl. I can go out there and brawl. We all know I have that heart in there. I want to have a long career and try to see everything. And I think if I’m more rational and reasonable, I can have everything it takes to be a champion.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 7.

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