On Nov. 24, RCHS alum Igor Lakicevic won his bout to win the Jackhammer heavyweight championship.
Lakicevic comes from a gym in Lexington called White Rhino. This gym is located in Flex Fitness in downtown Lexington, and is run by a coach with plenty of experience. Coach Phil Dunlap is a former fighter who has over 100 pro fights, ranging from Thai Boxing, Lethwei and Jiu Jitsu matches.He’s fought in Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Japan, and the United States.
Jackhammer Promotions is an organization based in New York that holds professional and amateur Mixed Martial Arts (MMA,) K-1, Muay Thai, and Kickboxing fights.
Lakicevic describes how he feels about winning the Jackhammer heavyweight title.
“It’s a pretty regular feeling, it’s just another fight really, it really doesn’t matter, it’s more of an experience thing, I got the opportunity to go all three rounds with my opponent, so that’s what’s more important that the actual title,” Lakicevic said.
Lakicevic has had a plentiful amount of experience in combat sports, he wrestled his sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school and he wrestled two years at Southern Virginia University (SVU.) Lakicevic describes his journey in MMA.
“It’s like any other sport or pretty much everything else you do in life, at the beginning, it’s very tough, you suck at it, you want to quit about 50 times before you even get to the actual work, by then, as the time passes you get used to it, and just one day at a time, you keep getting better at it,” Lakicevic said.
Lakicevic fights from a small team, him and his brother, are the only ones who compete in MMA, but his team still gets him ready for tough fights.
“We are a very small and kind of like a low key school, so we don’t really have a lot of members who compete, it’s pretty much just me and my brother who compete in MMA, everybody else is there for me, mostly to help me with the grappling side of the sport, and also to encourage me and give me good energy every year getting into competition,” Lakicevic said.
Lakicevic has big plans for the future, including traveling to Utah and fighting for another title for an organization called ‘Fierce Championship Organization’ on Dec. 13.
“I’m going to be fighting this upcoming Friday in Utah, I’m flying out on Wednesday and it’s going to be for another title, it’s called Fierce Championship Organization, they’re the biggest in Utah, and I’m going to be going against a very experienced opponent, and it’s going to be a very tough fight, and if I win, it’s going to be a good experience for me,” Lakicevic said.
