Mackenzie Dern was able to defend her title against Gillian Robertson last weekend at UFC 330.

Afterward, Robertson's coach, Din Thomas, went on air and sort of threw her under the bus, then retired from coaching. Probably the right move for him, as it seems he has become complacent in his duties.

It's not just his comments that make me write that; the game plan going into the fight made me wonder about the preparation.

We know there's no such thing as MMA math, but if there were, one of the equations that comes to mind is this:

Grappler vs. Grappler = a striking match

You would think anyway...

When one of the fighters has more MMA experience, you would think bringing that experience to the lesser MMA-experienced fighter would be one of the keys to success. Especially if both fighters are very confident in their grappling.

But if both fighters are correct in their grappling experience, wouldn't that cancel each other out?

It did, sort of...

Carbazel MMA 🥋 @Carbazel Grappling for MMA and grappling for BJJ are definitely two different things. Both Dern and Robertson are good at grappling, and the MMA rules definitely saved one and made submissions hard for the other. #UFC330 3:21 PM • Aug 16, 2026 0 Retweets 1 Likes

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This is when the coach should step in, with his notes on the fighters, and say, "Maybe we should try X."

Dern took Robertson down enough times to know she could do it whenever she wanted. She shot in and drove through to put her on the mats multiple times. There was nothing there to make her think otherwise.

If Thomas was watching and taking notes (in his head, not on paper, but it's why this exists), leg kicks would have been a good suggestion. Dern sat on her punches in a fairly wide stance, so maybe, just maybe, enough leg kicks would have made her concerned about running into one in a take-down attempt.

Or, make her own legs sore enough to take some gas away from the drive for the takedowns.

It never came up. The opposite did, and Robertson was never advised against it.

Sure, Robertson could have done this on her own.

But that's the relationship between athlete and coach. Especially in combat sports. It's built on trust. If you can't trust your coach to see ways to win, then the trust might be broken.

Either that, or someone lost interest.

Based on Thomas' comments, it looks like it might be the latter.

What do you think?

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