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Drake RiggsUncrownedTue, June 30, 2026 at 10:46 PM UTC·4 min read

Mackenzie Dern’s first assignment as the UFC strawweight champion comes on Aug. 15 at UFC 330 against fellow submission specialist Gillian Robertson.

Robertson, 31, has been a picture of confidence as she’s risen through the UFC’s ranks over the past nine years and set a new benchmark for the most women's finishes in the promotion’s history with 12. Her seven submissions also stand alone as a UFC record for women, giving her the edge over the highly-touted jiu-jitsu black belt champion Dern.

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Monday on "The Ariel Helwani Show," Dern took Robertson's comments over the years as a bit of “shade” that downplayed the champ’s abilities. Robertson responded on Tuesday's show, clarifying that her confidence shouldn't be confused with disrespect.

"I don't think I've been throwing shade," Robertson told Uncrowned. "I've been saying that this is a good matchup — her being the most accoladed jiu-jitsu girl, me being the [top] submission artist of the UFC. I have the most submissions, the most finishes for women.

"I don't take anything away from her jiu-jitsu accomplishments. That's jiu-jitsu, and we're fighting MMA now. That's where I'm going to be better. Obviously I wouldn't be taking this fight if I didn't think [I was better]. I am more aggressive. She does have good jiu-jitsu, I'm sure she trains with a lot of high-level girls that train jiu-jitsu, but they're not elbowing her in the face like I will."

When comparing the two on Monday, Dern was quick to highlight how much more experience she has in pure jiu-jitsu competitions than Robertson. She was unaware if Robertson had ever formally competed in the sport — which Robertson hasn't.

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The challenger's retort? She's been competing in the UFC for nearly the past decade, focused fully on training in MMA. To Robertson, pure jiu-jitsu experience is irrelevant and means nothing in the cage. "The Savage" believes that's been proven in both of their careers thus far.

"Once it starts getting to a higher level, and it's MMA, she's had issues — not being able to get the fight where she needs it to be, not being able to get the fight to the ground. We saw it with [Dern’s UFC losses against] Amanda Lemos, with Yan Xiaonan. Those girls were able to pull off the wins because of that," Robertson said.

"It's an issue in MMA in general, where a lot of people are training either striking, wrestling, or jiu-jitsu, which she obviously is doing, separating the sports so much. You can see that she doesn't get in deep enough on her shots. She's not well-versed enough in her striking to set up her shots, and it's just kind of reckless.

"I'm not sure where [the fight will] end up. I'm just trying to prove I'm the better MMA fighter, in general. I don't care if it's on the ground or on the feet or in the clinch. Wherever we are, I just want to prove that I'm the better fighter."

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As she rides a five-fight win streak into her first UFC title opportunity, Robertson (17-8) finds herself on the best run of her 25-fight career. She has established herself as a major player at 115 pounds after starting as a flyweight in 2017. Despite that, it was former UFC champion Zhang Weili who the MMA world expected to challenge Dern first.

Ultimately, Zhang's pursuit of the flyweight title against reigning champion Valentina Shevchenko in 2025 opened the vacant title opportunity for Dern at strawweight. Zhang came up short to Shevchenko, losing a unanimous decision and presumably leading her back to the division she's reigned over twice before. Instead, the shot went to Robertson.

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"I was hoping for the best, I guess," Robertson admitted. "I knew that Weili was definitely in the talks if she was coming back. I do think she deserved the spot before me. Obviously, things didn't work out that way. I don't know if it's something on her side, the UFC’s side, whatever. But after my last performance, I expected the call, and I was hoping for it as long as Weili wasn't back in the picture.

"I was just waiting for it. When it happened, I was definitely hit with a lot of emotion, but it just feels like it's time."

Willson Contreras breaks down in tears after home run, gets ejected the next inning

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Willson Contreras breaks down in tears after home run, gets ejected the next inning

Willson Contreras argues with an umpire after getting ejecting in the second inning against the Washington Nationals at Fenway Park. Jaiden Tripi / Getty Images

By Jen McCaffreyJune 29, 2026 Updated 11:21 pm EDT

BOSTON — In the span of two innings, Willson Contreras hit a monstrous three-run homer for the Boston Red Sox, broke down in tears in the dugout with his native Venezuela on his mind, and then was ejected the following inning after striking out for tapping his helmet.

Throughout his career, Contreras has played with emotion.

But this past week has been particularly tough for Contreras, who’s been raising money for Venezuelan earthquake victims and speaking passionately about his home country. Contreras has the letters “VZ” embroidered on his hat, as do fellow Venezuelan teammates Wilyer Abreu, Carlos Narváez and Ranger Suarez, who started Monday’s game. The Red Sox have five Venezuelans on their roster, including utility man Andruw Monasterio.

“He’s going through a lot,” interim manager Chad Tracy said of Contreras. “They all are.”

Venezuela was hit by 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes on Wednesday. The death toll released by the Venezuelan government is over 1,700 and is expected to rise.

With the Red Sox trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Contreras crushed a 421-foot homer over the wall in left field at Fenway Park to take the lead. He threw his bat with force and screamed “Venezuela” as he ran to first base.

“I think it’s just the emotional part of Venezuela that got to me, got the best out of me,” Contreras said after a 6-3 win over the Washington Nationals, a season-high fifth win in a row for the Red Sox. “I wasn’t feeling good the whole day, I was kind of down, sad and I hit a homer, of course. I tried to help my dugout, but the first thing that I said was it’s for Venezuela. Of course, I’m helping the team to win, and it’s good, but I think every homer from now on is going to be for the Red Sox and for Venezuela.”

Willson Contreras OVER THE MONSTER 😤 pic.twitter.com/Dn4xtRUEOD

— MLB (@MLB) June 29, 2026

Back in the dugout, Contreras sat on the bench and broke down, his head in his hands. Abreu and Narváez came over to hug him, as did interim manager Chad Tracy.

Willson Contreras was emotional after his HR 💛 pic.twitter.com/kLHDWqf9hZ

— NESN (@NESN) June 29, 2026

But in the bottom of the second, Contreras came to the plate again, this time striking out on a check swing. Frustrated by the call, he tapped the top of his helmet as if to sarcastically challenge it as he walked back to the dugout.

First base umpire Nic Lentz seemed to take exception to the gesture and ejected Contreras. Tracy ran out for an explanation before Contreras joined him, but Lentz didn’t relent.

“Willson tapped his helmet as a gesture, like, “Hey, can we check?” you know, jokingly check the check swing, which we know you can’t,” Tracy said. “So (Lentz) felt like he showed him up and threw him out of the game. I didn’t even know until I got out there kind of what was going on.”

Lentz offered his own explanation through a pool reporter.

“I called him out on appeal for the check swing, and as he was walking back to the dugout, he started gesturing, tapping his helmet, like he wanted to challenge something that is not a challengeable call,” Lentz said. “And so, disrespect, and again gesturing towards what he thought was an incorrect call, got him removed from the game.”

Lentz said it’s an automatic ejection if an umpire deems a player is mocking him.

“Correct,” he said. “It’s a lot like drawing a line in the dirt.”

Contreras was surprised by the ejection given he felt he has a good relationship with Lentz.

“Man, kind of surprising,” Contreras said. “Nick and I have a really good relationship. We had a really good talk right before the game. He also mentioned Venezuela, which is good for him to know about it. I think it kind of surprised me because I never made eye contact with him.”

Contreras said he wasn’t tapping his head in reference to Lentz.

“I was like, yeah, I didn’t make eye contact with you, I didn’t argue, I didn’t yell, I didn’t do nothing wrong,” Contreras said. “He told me, yeah, but I have to throw you out. I was like, you didn’t have to, but you made that choice. That’s it.”

Willson Contreras was tossed by 1B Ump Nic Lentz for tapping his helmet walking back to the dugout. Absolutely insane. What a power trip. pic.twitter.com/kgRgUsU532

— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) June 29, 2026

Willson Contreras with one of the weirdest ejections I've ever seen. He even came back on the field and had a full conversation about it. pic.twitter.com/xIDasGlSRL

— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) June 29, 2026

Monasterio replaced Contreras at first base.

On Saturday night after another big home run, Contreras spoke at length about the tragedies in Venezuela.

“It’s tough, it’s tough, it’s really tough to see what’s going on in Venezuela,” he said. “On January 3, we had some good news with the USA getting to Venezuela and taking some people out. That was kind of a little bit of happiness for the Venezuelan people, and then we won the WBC, which was the biggest happiness for Venezuela. And now we got hit with two earthquakes — with two earthquakes and more than 1,000 deaths. Probably more than that. I don’t know. It’s really sad to live through this.

“It’s really hard to separate or fake that we are (feeling) good just because we have to work. I mean, we’re professional. We have to show up and work. But it’s really tough when you know what’s going on in Venezuela, you’re here playing for your team, trying to win the game, trying to perform, and at the same time, trying to seek ways to help. I wish I could be there, to be honest, to find people. That’s where my heart was.”

Contreras has been using his Instagram account to do what he can from afar.

“We are getting together donations and things that we can ship to Venezuela, and we have some types of groups helping in Venezuela, and now (the country is) denying the access to those people that want to help because they’re not part of the government,” he said. “So that’s how tough the Venezuelan situation is.”

Over the weekend, Hall of Famer David Ortiz, a native of the Dominican Republic, joined Contreras, Narváez and Abreu on Jersey Street to collect donations for Venezuela earthquake victims through the Red Sox Foundation’s Venezuelan Earthquake Disaster Relief Efforts fund.

Jul 1, 2026