Ivana Petrovic Eyes Best Performance To Date

It’s tough to be a mixed martial arts fighter. It’s even tougher when the country you live in doesn’t recognize the sport. But that’s not going to stop Ivana Petrovic, who has been living and training in Norway, where MMA is not legal, for the last decade.

If that sounds ludicrous in this day and age, consider that France just legalized the sport in 2020, and Norway just lifted its ban on professional boxing in 2014. So there’s a fight still to be had, but Petrovic and her peers are up for it.

“Oh my God, yes,” said Petrovic, who faces Juliana Miller this Saturday on the UFC Fight Night card in Des Moines, Iowa. “Everybody else is talking about that, and we have groups, and the MMA community…