Mackenzie Dern says although divorce is final, UFC 295 pay will go to her ex-husband
Earlier this year, UFC strawweight Mackenzie Dern filed for divorce from her ex-husband Wesley Santos.
In March, Santos, the father of Dern’s three-year-old daughter, Moa, asked the court for full custody.
Dern later filed a petition for a domestic violence restraining order, where she attached videos of one alleged incident of abuse in which she alleges Santos threw her phone, water bottle, pillows and bedding while harassing and intimidating her.
According to documents, the court did not side with either Dern or Santos on allegations of abuse, finding the couple may have engaged in mutual combat during incidents of alleged abuse between them, and ordered joint custody of Moa.
Since Dern was declared the primary earner, she was ordered to pay $10,000 of her estranged husband’s court fees. Additionally, she was ordered to pay him spousal and child support totaling $4,006 per month.
Dern is coming off an extremely impressive unanimous decision win over Angela Hill in May, a fight she competed in while undergoing all these personal challenges.
Today, at the UFC 295 media day ahead of her fight against former champion Jéssica Andrade, Dern addressed the situation.
“I realized we always have problems,” Dern said. “Just the pressure. The last one (fight) I went through the divorce. The divorce is final, but you don’t realize how much aftermath there is to it. Literally, this whole fight is still paying my ex. It’s crazy, I have to get punched in the face and you work so hard, and you do all this, and you have to like pay that much of something.
“Money’s something, I’ll fight here, I’ll get it, whatever. Winning or losing, everything’s going to be taken care of. I’ll make more [money] and stuff like that but it’s just problems.”
