Robertson accuses Dern of backtracking ahead of UFC 330 strawweight title fight

Gillian Robertson has accused Mackenzie Dern of walking back critical comments made during camp, ramping up tensions between the two ahead of their UFC strawweight title fight at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on August 15.

Robertson (16-5) aired her grievances during media day ahead of UFC 330, claiming Dern spent weeks questioning her jiu-jitsu credentials before abruptly changing her tone as fight week arrived. Dern (17-8) had recently told media she neither likes nor dislikes her challenger because they don’t know each other well — a framing Robertson flatly rejected.

“She was making comments all through the camp about how she doesn’t know me, she doesn’t think my jiu-jitsu’s good, and all this stuff,” Robertson said. “Now she’s like, ‘Oh, no, it’s not anything. It’s not that I don’t like her.’ I’m like, ‘Why are we trying to take this back now?’ You’re talking all this sh*t through camp. Keep that same energy.”

Robertson left no room for a pre-fight thaw. “I don’t like her right now,” she added.

The Canadian challenger arrives at her first UFC title shot on the back of a five-fight winning streak, while Dern has won three in a row. Both fighters have built their reputations on submission grappling, and the question of whose ground game is superior has become a central talking point heading into the co-headliner at UFC 330.

The mutual claim to grappling dominance gives the personal friction an extra edge — Robertson’s insistence that Dern underestimated her on the mat, only to quietly revise that view, suggests the champion may already be treating her challenger with more respect than she initially let on.