UFC strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern reflected on her performance at the 83rd Golden Globes awards ceremony, describing the experience as an exciting glimpse into the future of fighter visibility under the promotion’s new partnership with Paramount.
Dern appeared alongside featherweight contender Brian Ortega at the January 11, 2026 event in Beverly Hills, California, where the two fighters made a brief cameo on stage dressed as security guards. The segment, which lasted about 30 seconds, was intended to promote the UFC’s historic seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights deal with Paramount, which went into effect earlier this month.
UFC champion Mackenzie Dern celebrates Golden Globes appearance as the strawweight division heats up
“We were happy to be there,” Dern told The Schmo in a red carpet interview at UFC 324. “It was a great start to the UFC-Paramount Plus connection, so it was really good that the athletes were finally there with the other celebrities and stuff. We got to dress up and we were part of the red carpet and everything, so it’s fun and I’m excited for the next Golden Globes. I think it’ll be fun.”
The performance marked an important cultural moment for the UFC, especially given actress Meryl Streep’s comments at the 2017 Golden Globes suggesting that without diverse voices in entertainment, audiences would be left with “football and mixed martial arts, which are not art.” Nearly a decade later, UFC fighters walked the red carpet at the same event, with Dern wearing a strapless purple dress and Ortega in a black suit and bow tie.
While the segment drew mixed reactions on social media, with some viewers calling it out awkward or forced, the moment represented a broader shift in the way mixed martial arts athletes are positioned in mainstream entertainment spaces. Under the Paramount deal, which began streaming UFC events on January 24, 2026, all 13 numbered UFC events and 30 Fight Nights will be available on Paramount Plus without the traditional pay-per-view model, with select events simulcast on CBS.
For Dern personally, the timing of the performance could not have been better. The 32-year-old captured the vacant UFC strawweight title just two and a half months earlier on October 25, 2025, defeating Virna Jandiroba by unanimous decision on October 25, 2025. UFC321 in Abu Dhabi. The victory, which came exactly 10 years later Dern won her first world title at the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, making her the first woman to win an IBJJF World Championship, an ADCC gold medal and a UFC title.
“It’s crazy, it’s crazy. My life has completely changed,” Dern told The Schmo when asked about holding the belt. “I’ve just been super focused. I have more motivation than ever, I don’t want to lose the title anytime soon. I definitely want to show everyone, ‘Hey, I’m meant to be a champion and I’ve been going to be a champion for a long time.’ So I’m definitely very motivated. But yeah, life has been crazy.”
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