American mixed martial artist and UFC fighter Mackenzie Dern has revealed that announcing her pregnancy earlier this year apparently cost her a not insignificant portion of her social media following
During her recent interview with ESPN, she explained that after she posted the first picture of her husband, professional surfer Wesley Santos, and broke the news of her impending motherhood, several thousand of her subscribers didn’t seem to appreciate the move.
"I had lost, like, 20,000 fans when I said I was pregnant and posted the first picture of my husband", she remarked.
However, Dern, who now boasts over 700,000 Instagram subscribers, has also revealed that she managed to recoup her losses since then by attracting a different sort of fans than before.
"After Moa was born I gained 20,000 back," she said. "I think it’s a different type of public, maybe I have more mums following and just people kinda inspired by, maybe the story."
With her maternity leave hiatus now over, Dern’s return to the UFC is scheduled to take place on 12 October when she is expected to face Amanda Ribas in the octagon.