Mackenzie Dern, still a brown belt, with her gold medal from the 2012 European Open (photo by Raphael Nogueira/GRACIEMAG)

A world champion at every belt on her way up to black, Mackenzie Dern, 19, is shouldering a lot of expectations as she enters her first IBJJF tournament at the highest rank.

The daughter of Wellington Megaton made her black belt debut last Sunday, when she took on Luiza Monteiro of Cícero Costha Team at the Copa Pódio Couples Showdown, which she won and celebrated with her boyfriend Augusto Mendes.

In the match, Mackenzie was undaunted by the task at hand and went on an all-out attack, even trying for a footlock, and won by 8-2.

In the following conversation with GRACIEMAG.com, Mackenzie assures us that she’ll be sticking her neck out in the black belt absolute in Lisbon, details what she expects to encounter there and looks back on her stellar Copa Pódio performance. Check out what she has to say!

GRACIEMAG: What’s your assessment of your black belt debut, a six-minute match with Luiza?

MACKENZIE DERN: It was my first match at black belt, and it was a good start. I went in with a lot of desire to win. It was a pleasure to face a warrior like Luiza, who made our fight more dynamic and fun for the Rio crowd to watch! I was overjoyed to win the Couples Showdown and share this memory with my boyfriend.

You started out with a handicap, since Leandro Lo ended up scoring 5 to 2 against Tanquinho. Did that make a difference for you?

To me it made no difference, even with the disadvantage in points. I felt like, since I was already losing, I had nothing to lose! So I tried to forget Tanquinho’s match with Leandro and just do my best, fight on the attack. I learned that the recipe for fighting well is to keep your head on straight and go in with a lot of will to win.

Now the European Open is coming up in late January. You’ve been training hard—think you’ll go for the absolute?

My preparations have been excellent. Because of Copa Pódio I was already training a lot, so I just have to keep up the pace for another week. I’ll be training here in Rio until Saturday. After that I’ll spend two days at my dad’s academy in the USA and wrap up training for the 2013 European Open. You’ll surely see me in the absolute in Portugal. It’s always fun to fight in the absolute, and I don’t want to stop now.

Have you put together a special game plan for winning the European Open?

My strategy is to go in to win. I don’t know for sure if I’ll win, lose, pull guard or play on top, but I do know that I’ll do my best and put up a fight. It’s only the beginning of the year, so I want to get in rhythm for the Worlds. I have my goals at black belt and will do all I need to to accomplish them. Most of my matches will be against experienced black belts, but that’s something that only time can give me. So I’ll get ready by working on my mistakes, and we’ll see if I come up with good results this year.

Tanquinho and Mackenzie seal their victory with a kiss (Photo by Gustavo Aragão/GRACIEMAG).

The evening of gi-clad action at the Copa Pódio event in Rio de Janeiro didn’t stand out only for the big excitement of the Heavyweight GP, but also for the first ever Couples Showdown, which was won by Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes of Soul Fighters and his girlfriend Mackenzie Dern of Gracie Humaitá after outpointing opposing couple Leandro Lo and Luiza Monteiro of Cicero Costha Team on aggregate.

The first match between members of the two black belt couples had Augusto Tanquinho taking on Leandro Lo, and Lo came out on top by a score of 5 points to 2. The girls then took to the mats to pick up with the score their boyfriends had left off, and Mackenzie Dern managed to rally back with an 8-2 score, winning by 10 to 7 in the overall tally.

Once the dust had settled, Mackenzie’s boyfriend had the following chat with GRACIEMAG.com, where he details what he learned in the match and reveals that his bags are already packed for the European Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

GRACIEMAG: You and Leandro have faced each other a few times and know each other well. What was it like to meet up with him again last Sunday at Copa Pódio?

AUGUSTO MENDES: That’s right, we’ve fought a few times, and just like in the past, I feel it was a good match. It was very even, in my opinion—he scored the winning three points in the last 15 seconds of the match, just like I did the time before that, when I passed and mounted in the final 30 seconds. So, he capitalized better this time and deserves all the credit for the win.

Do you feel you made a mistake?

Yes, I deviated from my game plan towards the end, and paid for it. With 1:30 minutes left on the clock, I opted to pull guard, and did a bad job of pulling. Leandro made a meal of it and pushed the pace until getting the pass.

What lessons have you derived from the match?

When fighting black belts, you can make no mistakes, especially in a six-minute match. I need to iron some things out so I won’t make mistakes.

You handed a handicap over to Mackenzie, but she managed to pull off the come-from-behind win. Have you two spoken about it since the competition?

We haven’t said anything to each other about it. We already said all that needed saying before, during training and behind the scenes. We trained to be ready for any situation, so she was prepared to fight even if I handed it over to her with an advantage or disadvantage. And she was sensational.

And she went in all the more motivated…

That’s her nature. She always fights on the attack and hungry to win. Right after my match, I sat down on the ramp accessing the stage, and all I could think about was the headache I’d left her… Just look at her situation: It’s her debut as a black belt, only six minutes to fight, and against a top-tier opponent. And on top of that she starts off with a three-point handicap! All that just motivated her going in. But to me the main thing going for her was her desire to win. Mackenzie has carried that with her through all the belts, and at black belt it’ll be no different. She was simply incredible.

So what are your thoughts about the featherweight division at the European Open?

I confirmed my sign-up for the tournament yesterday. I was already planning to compete at featherweight, such that for the Couples Showdown I was well below the 76 kg weight ceiling we’d agreed to: I weighed 74.7 kg in jeans and a T-shirt. I preferred that to losing weight at the last minute. Now I’m even more focused on dieting and showing up at the tournament strong. The last time I fought at featherweight I took second at the 2011 Worlds, so I hope to do a good job this time. I’ll stick around here in Rio training with my team, and Saturday I return to the USA to train with Megaton and his guys. In Lisbon the fans can expect to see a Tanquinho focused on doing his best. It’ll be my return to the big tournaments since undergoing spinal surgery.

To check out who’s signed up for the European Open, click here!

Leandro Lo and Luiza Monteiro join Couples Showdown. Photo by Pedro Felcio.

Davi Ramos and Marina Ribeiro alleged to have had some personal issues and pulled out from the January 13 Copa Pódio event at Rio de Janeiro’s Ginásio Hebraica arena.

But the organizers acted swiftly, and now the couple Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes and Mackenzie Dern will be taking on lovers Leandro Lo and Luiza Monteiro.

“As soon as I heard the news, Leandro and Luiza came to mind. There was the problem of weight, since Lo was set to face Felipe Preguiça in the under-84 kg division on the same card and the Couples Showdown is at under-76 kg. I waited for the IBJJ Pro League to finish and got in touch with Leandro, who promptly accepted the sacrifice of competing alongside his loved one. He’ll likely give up an eight-kilo weight disadvantage to Preguiça for their match… Ain’t love sweet?” quipped Jeferson Maycá, the promoter of the event.

The two matches in the Couples Showdown will be of six-minute match durations. The first will be between the men, and next the ladies will take to the mats to pick up the score where the boys left off. Should the men’s match end in a submission, the best the disadvantaged couple will be able to hope for is a draw, by responding with a submission in the female match.

While penciling in the ten competitors to compete in the December Heavyweight Grand Prix, the promoters of the Copa Pódio Jiu-Jitsu tournament are drumming up some parallel match-ups.

The latest news, announced yesterday over the event’s Facebook page (here), is a double match-up pitting Jiu-Jitsu-fighter couples against each other.

The Couples Showdown involves two matches, each lasting six minutes. The first will be between men, and the second will be between women, and the women’s match picks up with the score carried over from the men’s match.

Should the men’s match end in a submission, the women will square off for a draw, should the girlfriend of the athlete who tapped out get comeuppance on her female counterpart.

One of the couples has already been picked. Lightweight world runner-up of 2011 Augusto Tanquinho and brown belt world champion Mackenzie Dern were invited to take part in the contest. The Copa Pódio organization will be announcing the second couple for this unprecedented match-up in the coming days.

Now GRACIEMAG.com readers can held out, by weighing in with their picks in the comments field below. Who do you feel should toe the line against Tanquinho and Mackenzie?

“These ideas add a more expansive dynamic to tournaments,” remarked Jeferson Maycá, the founder of Copa Pódio. “The Battle of the Cities, between fighters from different regions, and this Double Match-up between couples lets there be fighters from other weight groups, not just the heavyweights in the GP. It’s worth keeping in mind that Guto Campos will be defending his Superchallenge title, and there will also be the superfight showdown between Leandro Lo and Felipe Preguiça. These are matched fights that guarantee excitement during the breaks between phases in the GP (the group, semifinal and final phase), holding us over till we find out who’s the big winner of the night among heavyweights.”