Roberto Soldic: ONE FC is biggest martial
arts in the world.#TheMMAHour
pic.twitter.com/lzu2s0WglN— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman)
August 1, 2022
Two-division KSW champion Roberto
Soldic has left the Polish promotion to sign with One
Championship.
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Soldic announced the news on „The MMA Hour“ on
Monday. Soldic, who held titles at 185 and 170 pounds in KSW, said
his decision was motivated in part by the opportunity to compete
for belts in other combat sports.
“I chose One because it’s the biggest martial arts promotion in the
world,“ Soldic said. „They give me opportunity to take all the
belts: kickboxing world champion, muay Thai world champion, MMA
world champion, also boxing world champion. So this makes me
something new. I want to create something for my people, for my own
legacy. So I chose One for sure.
“After I went to Singapore and I saw the atmosphere with Mr. Chatri
[Sityodtong], how he treats the fighters, relationships, and he
gave me the best offer. He said to me, ‘You can be a unique fighter
and I will give you all the chances to take different belts from
combat sports.’ So I do all sports. I want to do something
different. … I want to hold the belts from all combat sports.
Nobody has done this before. So this is, for me, the biggest
challenge.”
Soldic has won his last seven appearances — six via KO or TKO —
under the KSW banner. He claimed welterweight gold with a
third-round knockout of current UFC talent Dricus Du
Plessis in October 2018 and successfully defended the title
twice. He became middleweight champion with a second-round knockout
of Mamed
Khalidov at KSW 65 this past December. He owns a 20-3 mark as a
professional overall.
The 27-year-old Croatian revealed that he did receive an offer from
the UFC, but it was something he deemed to be “nothing serious.”
For “Robocop,” not only did One seem like the more significant
challenge, but there’s also something special about the
Singapore-based organization’s events.
„It’s for me a better opportunity,“ Soldic said. „It’s the biggest
promotion in the world. You know what happens to UFC stars when
they go to One. They lose, they cannot take the One belt. So this
makes me want to be a different fighter. I want to try and take
this belt where UFC fighters failed. They don’t show up there. When
I watched the live ONE show, I see different striking game,
grappling game.
„I also went to many UFC events and ONE is something special,
something different. True martial arts…”
Soldic doesn’t yet have a date or opponent for his debut, but he
plans to compete in One’s lightweight (170 pounds) and welterweight
(185 pounds) divisions.