Report: Mackenzie Dern, Virna Jandiroba to fight at UFC 256

Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting reported on Friday that strawweights Mackenzie Dern and Virna Jandiroba, two well-known grapplers in that division, have an agreement to fight at the UFC 256 show held on Dec. 12. 

ESPN's Marc Raimondi later confirmed that report. 

Dern, 27, improved to 9-1-0 overall with a win over Randa Markos on Sept. 19. Her past two victories have come via first-round submission, and she's finished six of her 10 professional contests. She sits 14th in the UFC rankings at strawweight. 

Jandiroba, a 32-year-old jiu-jitsu specialist, is a former Invicta FC strawweight champion who opened her pro career with 14 consecutive victories before she fell to Carla Esparza by unanimous decision in her UFC debut in April 2019. Since then, however, she tallied submission wins over Mallory Martin and Felice Herrig. Jandiroba is ranked 15th. 

UFC boss Dana White is still searching for a main event for UFC 256 after reports emerged that Kamaru Usman won't defend his welterweight championship versus Gilbert Burns because of an undisclosed injury. On Thursday, former two-division champion Conor McGregor offered to face Dustin Poirier on Dec. 12 or at some other show before 2020 ends. 

Current UFC two-division champion Amanda Nunes is set to defend her featherweight title against Megan Anderson at UFC 256, but it's expected that fight won't headline the card.