UFC Fight Night: Marina Spasic vs Stephanie Luciano Preview & Prediction
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A strawweight showcase serves as the first fight of the night, as the debuting Marina Spasic takes on Stephanie Luciano.
Marina Spasic vs Stephanie Luciano facts
What time are Marina Spasic and Stephanie Luciano expected to walk out?
Where is UFC Fight Night: Medic vs Rodriguez? Belgrade Arena, Belgrade, Serbia
Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night: Medic vs Rodriguez? Click here for the latest ticket information for UFC Fight Night 283
What TV channel is UFC Fight Night: Medic vs Rodriguez on? UK – TNT Sports / USA – Paramount
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night: Medic vs Rodriguez? UK – TNT Sports can stream the event online via the TNT Sports website and HBO Max / USA – Paramount+ & UFC Fight Pass
UFC Fight Night: Medic vs Rodriguez main card
Uros Medic vs Daniel Rodriguez (Welterweight)
Jan Blachowicz vs Navajo Stirling (Light Heavyweight)
Aleksandar Rakic vs Marcin Tybura (Heavyweight)
Dusko Todorovic vs Robert Valentin (Middleweight)
Vlasto Cepo vs Gilbert Urbina (Middleweight)
Milos Janicic vs Noah Gugnon (Lightweight)
UFC Fight Night: Medic vs Rodriguez prelims
Ludovit Klein vs Tofiq Musayev (Lightweight)
Oban Elliott vs Michael Oliveira (Welterweight)
Borislav Nikolic vs Mark Vologdin (Bantamweight)
Dennis Buzukja vs Bogdan Grad (Featherweight)
Mateusz Rebecki vs Kyle Prepolec (Lightweight)
Nina Milosevic vs Hailey Cowan (Women’s Bantamweight)
Jovan Leka vs Alexander Poppeck (Heavyweight)
Marina Spasic vs Stephanie Luciano (Women’s Strawweight)
Marina Spasic: Can the Serbian KO artist produce a fairytale debut in her home country?
Marina Spasic (7-1) gets her chance at a UFC dream in front of a home crowd, following a long career fighting on the European regional circuit. A former kickboxer known for her powerful striking, “Maki Beki” has never been stopped and has an impressive finishing rate for women’s strawweight, leaning on excellent Muay Thai to score KO stoppages in six of her seven professional bouts. However, given the caliber of opponents that she’s been finishing in her MMA career to date, it’s hard to escape the sensation that the Serbian is being given somewhat of a leg up to make up the numbers as a hometown fighter in Belgrade.
Stephanie Luciano: "Rondinha" returns hoping to build on an impressive stoppage in her last fight
2-1 since earning a contract with an entertaining draw on the Contender Series, Stephanie Luciano (7-2-1) looks to score consecutive victories for the first time in her UFC career. Avenging her draw against Talita Alencar with a decision victory in her promotional debut, “Rondinha” dropped a controversial decision to Sam Hughes before rebounding with a decisive submission win over Ravena Oliveira last time out, meaning that she could well be 3-0 were it not for some questionable judging. A high volume Muay Thai striker, Luciano sets a frenetic pace, landing at a high clip and overwhelming opponents with her output.
Marina Spasic vs Stephanie Luciano prediction
This could be a rough debut for Spasic.
Luciano has looked extremely solid since joining the UFC, demonstrating sneaky power and impressively high output; she absolutely battered Ravena Oliveira in her most recent appearance. Sam Hughes mixed in takedowns to hand “Rondinha” her only loss in the promotion to date, but notwithstanding the controversial decision, Luciano likely doesn’t have to worry too much about the grappling threat from a striker like Spasic.
“Maki Beki” clearly has power, but this is the hardest fight of her professional career by a long shot. She’s fresh off a win over an opponent who was 12-10-1 and three of her victories have come over opponents with losing records. Moreover, she’s been beaten by regional level competition less than a year ago; not exactly a promising sign when faced with a fighter who already has three UFC bouts under her belt.
Spasic could use Luciano’s aggression to time a fight ending shot, but until she beats a UFC caliber opponent, it feels like a long shot. The more likely outcome sees Luciano avoiding the big shot and racking up points on the board, mixing in well timed takedowns to test Spasic’s unproven ground game. Given that she’s fresh off submitting another regional level KO artist in Ravena Oliveira, I don’t mind her chances to find the submission again here.
Prediction: Stephanie Luciano to win by submission
