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Chatri Sityodtong says Roberto Soldic could become ‘greatest combat-sports athlete ever’

A dangerous new athlete has joined ONE Championship’s ranks, and the entire roster is on notice.  

Pradna Paramitha (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, August 6, 2022

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Chatri Sityodtong says Roberto Soldic could become ‘greatest combat-sports athlete ever’ Croatian mixed martial artist Roberto Soldic.

A dangerous new athlete has joined ONE Championship’s ranks, and the entire roster is on notice.   

  Earlier this week, two-division KSW champion Roberto Soldic announced that he has officially joined the Singapore-based promotion. In a statement regarding the move, the talented Croatian superstar made it clear that he chose to go with ONE because of the many avenues it presents to its athletes.  

  “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.  

“I want to do something different. I’ve seen how happy fighters are there. When I went to Singapore, I saw it’s the next level.”   

  As a two-division MMA champion, Soldic has what it takes to stand toe-to-toe with ONE’s toughest athletes. He has picked up a professional record of 20-3 in MMA, with nearly all of his victories achieved by knockout.  

  The mixed martial artist won gold in both the middleweight and welterweight rosters for the KSW organization, a premier promotion based in Poland, and he’s aiming to find the same success in ONE. 

“It’s the biggest organization in the world. You know what happens to UFC stars when they go over to ONE? They lose. They cannot take the ONE belt. I want to try to take this belt where UFC fighters have failed,” Soldic said. 

“I know how tough ONE is with their strikers and grapplers. This will be a big challenge for me; nobody else has done this before.” 

Read also: Adriano Moraes ready for rematch with ‘smart, tough’ Demetrious Johnson

ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong foreshadowed big things for Soldic when commenting on the new signing's potential. The organization’s roster is getting more stacked by the day, and Sityodtong is excited to see what the 27-year-old star can do inside the ONE Circle. 

"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,” he said. 

“I want to be focused on the best of the best because I think that's how you really create a legacy -- not only for ONE. You know, I'm going all over the world looking for the very best talent. One thing in my job is I get to see world champions almost every day in every discipline. But I want to make sure that when we sign somebody, they have the potential to be a superstar world champion.” 

In the meantime, tickets for ONE Fight Night 1: Moraes vs. Johnson II on Aug. 27 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium are now available at onefc.com/tickets.

This article was published in collaboration with ONE Championship.

 

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