Having lost to Laszlo Senyei a year ago in the Zagreb Arena, Luka Jelcic decided to drop to lightweight category. The results were visible already in his first match against Krasimir Georgiev while he scored yet another victory at FFC 14 that took place last Friday in Ljubljana.

The KO with which he finished his Italian opponent Elia Mandau already in the first round was definitely one of the most attractive and the most brutal KO's in the history of FFC. This was Luka's sixth professional victory with which he proved his decision to drop to the lightweight category the right one. Just like the high kick that destroyed Mandau.

“Everything went according to plan. I knew Mandau is a good fighter and his score on Sherdog is not realistic. It stated that he had barely two fights, one win and one loss, while his gym's page stated he had six matches in total. So it means we have equal experience“, said Luka Jelcic who did not hide he was happy with his victory.

„I studied him well and I saw a couple of his matches on Youtube. I knew he was a good boxer and that's why I wanted a stand-up fight. I wanted to show people I can fight in stand-up and that I'm not good only when it comes to grappling.“

High kick Jelcic landed knocked his opponent out and then he landed yet another punch which caused the fracture of his forearm. Luka admits that punch was unnecessary.

“It's true. That punch was too much and I apologized to Elia after the match. He accepted my apology. He knows I did not want to hurt him seriously. It's just what we do. Moreover, judges and organizer instruct us to fight while the referee does not stop the match.”

Luka Jelcic also commented the high kick that knocked his opponent out

“When I go down, people always think I'm about to throw them down. I took this move from James Krause in a way. I started working on it and I wanted to apply it in my last match, but I did not get a chance.”

Luka now has a score of six wins and one loss. He scored two victories since he cut weight and dropped to lighter category.

“Prior to my last match I did not have problems with the weight cut. I had 79 kg and it was easy to cut 9 kg. This time I had 80 kg and that 1 kilo proved to be a problem since I had to cut it before the official weigh-ins. Next time I will have more discipline and I will be smarter. I will not allow that to happen again. Everybody who saw me before the weigh-ins knew how bad it was.”

Despite the forearm fracture, Luka Jelcic does not plan to sit still. He went back to trainings two days right after the match.

“In the last couple of months I did a great job with my coaches Goran Babic and Goran Sajko. I'm in great shape and I could ruin that because of this injury. I will not stop, I will go on with my trainings and do everything I can with one arm.”

Luka is supposed to rest for three weeks and he wants to have another match before the end of the year.

“I would love to have another match before the end of the year. I hope I won't gain too much weight”, said Jelcic and laughed.

“It does not matter who my opponent is going to be. It does not matter what I fight for, whether is it the title or not. I fight because I like it and it's OK as long as I don't have to fight a friend. I believe Orsat Zovko and Marko Petrak will find me a suitable opponent like Mandau. That fight had to end via stoppage. One of us had to lose that way. This time I was more successful“, concluded Luka Jelcic.