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ONE Championship sign Croatian MMA superstar Roberto Soldic

Popularly known as "Robocop," Soldic is one of the world's most dominant welterweight and middleweight mixed martial artists.

Roberto Soldic

Singapore, August 3: Two-division KSW champion Roberto Soldic has penned an exclusive deal with ONE Championship as the MMA promotion continues to bolster their roster.

Popularly known as "Robocop," Soldic is one of the world's most dominant welterweight and middleweight mixed martial artists. He sports a 20-3 career MMA record with a 90 percent finishing rate. Soldic is also 4-0 as a professional boxer, with all his victories coming via knockout or TKO.

"I think he has a big opportunity to become, potentially, the greatest combat sports athlete ever, in history. Of course, we don't know. I'm saying that's the opportunity Roberto has. Will he achieve it? We will see. But he's going to be facing a lot of monsters and killers at ONE. It's not going to be easy," ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong said.

Recently, Soldic made a name for himself while competing at KSW. The Croatian phenom took home the promotion's welterweight title in 2017 after defeating Borys Mankowski via third-round TKO. While he lost the title after four months, he regained it by defeating Dricus du Plessis in October 2018.

This past December, Soldic moved to middleweight and knocked out KSW Middleweight Champion Mamed Khalidov to claim another belt.

In ONE, he will join a stacked roster and challenge some of the world's top athletes. Given his weight class, he could challenge Reinier de Ridder for the latter's ONE Middleweight World Title.

He could also provide stern opposition to ONE Welterweight World Champion Kiamrian Abbasov or ONE Lightweight World Champion Ok Rae Yoon. While there is no definite date for his ONE debut yet, combat sports fans can't wait to witness Soldic inside the Circle.

"I chose ONE [Championship] because it's the biggest [platform] for martial arts in the world. They give me the opportunity to take all the belts: kickboxing world champion[ship], Muay Thai world champion[ship], MMA world champion[ship], and also boxing world champion[ship]. This is something new. I want to create something for my people, my whole legacy," Soldic said.

ONE Championship returns to action with ONE 160: Ok vs. Lee II on August 26. Ok Rae Yoon will defend his ONE Lightweight World Title in a rematch with former titlist Christian Lee. ONE Featherweight World Champion Thanh Le will also defend his crown against top-ranked contender Tang Kai.

Meanwhile, ONE Fight Night 1 will happen on August 27. ONE Flyweight World Champion Adriano Moraes will defend his throne in a rematch with mixed martial arts legend Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson.

Nong-O Gaiyanghadao will also put the ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Title on the line against British striker Liam Harrison. ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon will also compete with Savvas Michael in the semifinals of the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix.

Source: Media Release

Story first published: Wednesday, August 3, 2022, 13:06 [IST]
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