OTHER VITALS
CAREER STATUS: Prime
WALKOUT THEME: “Broken Pieces Shine” by Evanescence
SPONSORS: Nike

FIGHTING STYLE
PRIMARY: Sambo
SECONDARY: Wrestling
STANCE: Orthodox

STRENGTHS
+ Size & Strength: I mean, seriously. Both her amateur fights were at lightweight, as was her first pro fight. If anything, she’s oversized for a featherweight, and boy don’t you know it. Not only does she have the height, but she has the length and the mass – that makes her a big, strong, scary fighter to step into the cage with. She tends to throw people around at will.

+ Unrelenting: Lucija is the kind of fighter that takes others into deep water. She engulfs them, overpowers them, and just keeps coming, no matter what. Dragicevic is almost machine like in her pressure and efficiency.

+ Wrestling & Submission Skills: This is her bread & butter, and is what usually her whole gameplan is centered around. Lucija wants to take you down, beat you into submission, or just straight up submit you – it’s what she knows, it’s what she’s good at, and in the majority of her fights to date it’s what she’s done.

WEAKNESSES
– Stand-Up: It’s not “can’t throw a good punch” bad, but if you’re even marginally decent on the feet then Lucija isn’t going to want to trade with you.

– Predictable: I mean…you know a shot is coming. Lucija wants to take the fight down to the ground, if an opponent has watched a second of tape on her they’ll know that. It makes her relatively easy to gameplan against as you’ll know exactly what she wants to do.

– Aggressiveness: Lucija trusts her instincts, which usually tell her to be aggressive. It’s how she smothers her opponents and applies the amount of pressure she does, for someone who’s able to deal with that they’d have an easy time countering her due to her eagerness.

STATISTICAL INFORMATION
#1 Punches: 8
#2 Kicks: 6
#3 Clinch Striking: 8
#4 Clinch Grappling: 10
#5 Strength: 18
#6 Agility: 9
#7 Dodging: 9
#8 Takedowns: 17
#9 Takedown Defense: 12
#10 Heart: 10
#11 Ground & Pound: 17
#12 Ground Game: 16
#13 Submissions: 20
#14 Submission Defense: 8
#15 Conditioning: 9
#16 Toughness: 14
#17 Control: 10
#18 Aggressiveness: 18
#19 KO Resistance: 11

CONTRACT
4 FIGHTS – $300,000 (EXCLUSIVE)
(2 FIGHTS LEFT)

CAREER EARNINGS: $1,160,000

ACCOLADES
CHAMPIONSHIPS: 0
N/A

HONORS: 0
N/A

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: 2
(Boss Fight 51, UGP 69)

PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT: 0
N/A

BACKSTORY
Lucija Dragicevic was born in Split, Croatia, to a relatively normal family. Lucija’s upbringing too was normal, where she excelled in sports at a young age, basketball specifically due to her height. She played throughout her time in school and had eventually hoped to go pro, but a nasty motorcycle accident which left her boyfriend dead had cut those dreams short.

The doctor told her how incredibly lucky she was to come out of the accident with her life (with the accident leaving Lucija with nasty scarring across her arms and torso), but the recovery time necessary for such grievous injuries would undoubtedly mean she would be far too behind her comparatives in their development. Long story short, basketball was a dead end. After she had physically recovered from her injuries Lucija happened upon a local MMA gym, FORCE Combat in her hometown of Split. She took to the sport instantly, using her size and strength to maul and dominate her training partners. After winning two amateur fights relatively soundly she was quickly approached by a fighter from the Volkov Fighting Institute who invited her to come and train with him in Russia. Knowing how good of an opportunity that would be for her to hone her skills and progress her career, she accepted.

Dragicevic would go on to turn pro under the tutelage of Spartak Volkov, father of professional MMA fighters Viktor and Sasha Volkov, and under the VFI banner she racked up three wins in three years. Taking the next step in her career, ‘Lucky’ Lucija then signed with AWC amassing an 8-2-0 record, learning a few harsh lessons along the way, but ultimately gaining their featherweight crown twice. At the conclusion of her contract Dragicevic decided to test the market, opting to sign with Union GP on a multi-fight contract.