Entering 2026, Mackenzie Dern is the strawweight champion. Fighting Virna Jandiroba for the vacant belt at UFC 321, Dern was able to out-point her foe to finally secure gold. The reason that the belt was vacant is because former champion, Zhang Weili, was scheduled to move up in weight to clash with Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight belt.
Weili was stripped of her belt, a new rule for the UFC, after seeking a belt in a different division. It’s worth noting that the Chinese superstar didn’t lose the 115lbs belt in the octagon.
The assumption is that Magnum will now return to her natural weight of 115lbs after getting completely dominated by Shevchenko at UFC 322.