Marina Spasić is a 32-year-old Serbian strawweight from Belgrade, nicknamed Maki Beki. She is set to make her UFC debut on August 1 in her hometown against Stephanie Luciano. Before mixed martial arts, she competed for years as a kickboxer on the Balkan K-1 circuit. Additionally, she competed on other regional shows, establishing herself on the local striking scene.
She turned professional in MMA in September 2021 with a second-round stoppage under the Serbian MMA Federation. Over the following years, she built her record across Balkan promotions, including Centurion, ARMMADA, FNC and Brave CF. Six consecutive victories followed, and the majority were by stoppage. This run was highlighted by a third-round TKO of Maristela Alves at Brave CF 88 in Ljubljana. However, that run ended in November 2025 when she accepted a short-notice co-main event against Marina Merchuk (newly signed with the PFL) at Brave CF 102. She dropped a unanimous decision in that bout. Four months later she returned with a third-round finish at ARMMADA 17.
Now under UFC contract, Spasić arrives in the Octagon with a 7-1 record and the rare opportunity to debut in front of a home crowd in Belgrade.
Spasić is a striker through and through. She fights out of an orthodox stance, keeps a traditional Muay Thai base, and rarely, if ever, switches. Her game is built almost entirely around striking. Therefore, the best version of her comes out against opponents willing to meet her on the feet. If you are looking for a well-rounded mixed martial artist, this is not it. On the other hand, if you are looking for a technical kickboxer in an MMA cage, that is essentially what you will get.
At range, Spasić holds up solidly. She is patient and measured, and does not waste energy throwing for the sake of it. Instead, she relies on constant feints to draw reactions before firing combinations, and she owns a stiff jab. She mixes in calf kicks effectively and cuts the cage well. Moreover, she carries respectable power for the division. She is light on her feet, can dictate the pace when and has shown no cardio issues so far in MMA. In the Thai clinch, she is also dangerous when she has the positional advantage. She lands effective knees in that position.
The problem is that her comfort zone is painfully obvious. Everything works until opponents refuse to fight at kicking range. Once fighters get inside the pocket or force ugly exchanges, her defensive awareness drops significantly. She is vulnerable to kicks in orthodox-versus-orthodox matchups and gets countered more often than expected for someone with her striking pedigree. Despite the technical approach, her accuracy is not particularly sharp. In her lone professional loss, she was consistently missing while her opponent landed at will—a concerning look for a marketed striking specialist.
The biggest question marks come everywhere outside of striking. Her takedown defense raises concerns, even if she has faced favorable matchmaking against opponents who rarely tested it. She managed timely takedowns against Merchuk, but once the fight hit the mat she looked unsure of what to do next. She also struggled to maintain control. Wrestling, grappling and positional clinch battles remain almost entirely unproven. As a result, they are significant unknowns against stronger competition.
Spasić is also a fairly slow starter. She spends much of the opening round gathering reads before increasing her output, which can cost her early minutes against faster opponents. Most of her wins have arrived later in fights, and almost out of nowhere. Speed itself is another issue. She looked a step behind whenever she faced quality opposition. For example, Merchuk repeatedly beat her to the punch and pieced her up with superior hand speed.
Overall, Spasić looks capable of producing entertaining striking battles in the UFC, but it is difficult to project her much further. Outside of being a local signing, it is hard to see what separates her from the rest of the division. She is already 32 and largely one-dimensional. Moreover, she was out-kickboxed in her only professional MMA loss. Unless the UFC consistently matches her with fellow strikers, the jump in competition will expose the holes in her game. She should deliver fun fights, yet cracking the rankings feels like a steep climb. Additionally, she is likely to find herself on the losing side of some of those striking matches anyway.
THE MATCHUP WITH LUCIANO
Luciano enters this matchup with clear advantages. She is the younger, more explosive athlete, fights at a higher pace, and brings a far more complete MMA skill set than Spasić. While she is not known for one-punch power and can occasionally linger in striking exchanges longer than necessary, her movement, physicality, and ability to fight across multiple phases should serve her well. Spasić’s offense is fairly straightforward and leaves openings to be countered. She has historically struggled when opponents refuse to stand in front of her. If Luciano forces Spasić to reset with lateral movement and is willing to threaten takedowns, she has several paths to victory. Spasić’s grappling remains a major question mark against quality opposition. This turns the matchup into a difficult stylistic test for what already feels like a surprisingly tough UFC debut. Luciano is the more complete fighter and the deserved favorite.
Prediction: Luciano by decision.
