Manila, December 7: Roberto Soldic made his highly anticipated ONE debut at ONE Fight Night 5 over the weekend, and it was one of the biggest disappointments in recent memory.
"Robocop" took on undefeated Russian star Murad Ramazanov at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines, on Saturday (December 3), and the fight ended in an anti-climactic no contest.
It was a highly competitive affair in the early stages of the first round, but an unintentional low blow from Ramazanov brought a quick end to proceedings after Soldic was deemed unable to continue.
At the post-fight press conference, ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong fielded some inevitable questions about the result of the fight and confirmed that Soldic was still struggling in the immediate aftermath of the low blow.
"He's still out, you know, on a bed. He can't move. His stomach is in pain, you know. So, I just hope there's nothing sinister," he said.
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Low blows are an unfortunate reality of combat sports. Kicks and knees regularly miss their intended targets in the heat of battle.
Fighters typically wear steel cups to protect themselves, but the ONE boss said this was not the case for Soldic.
"I don't know why he didn't use a metal cup or a plastic cup. His cup was hard foam. I don't know who manufactures hard foam - I saw it, I said, 'Did the cup break?' And they showed me the cup. It's one of those hard foam cups. It's crazy," a bewildered Sityodtong stated.
"So, he took a nut shot as if he were without a cup. It's hard foam - and you saw it, right?"
The winner of Soldic and Ramazanov had been rumored to become the first challenger for newly crowned welterweight king Christian Lee, who now awaits to hear further news in that regard.
Soldic entered the bout with a significant amount of hype around him, but Sityodtong feels that the fight could also have been a coming-out party for the undefeated Ramazanov.
"It was obviously a highly anticipated debut of Roberto Soldic, and again, Murad is a beast. I mean, that first takedown also said a lot, right? You have to think, I mean, you talk to Khabib [Nurmagomedov], you talk to anybody about Murad, and they'll tell you he's the best 185er in Dagestan and in Russia," he said.
Though the bout came to an abrupt end, the action itself offered enough to set fans' tongues wagging at the thought of a rematch between the two undefeated stars.
Sityodtong is no exception, but the CEO feels that the timelines may not match up, with Soldic injured and Ramazanov potentially ready to fight again soon.
"I don't know. My team's got to talk to their managers and figure out how fast of a turnaround each of them want. If the timing works out then yeah, do the rematch. But if Murad wants to keep active then I wouldn't blame him. He's still fresh, one hundred percent," Sityodtong said.
Source: Media Release