The first ONE Championship assignment of Roberto Soldic is approaching on Friday, December 2.
The Croatian sensation will square off against unbeaten Russian Murad Ramazanov in a welterweight MMA clash at ONE on Prime Video 5, which airs live in U.S. primetime.
Soldic inked a deal to compete for ONE Championship back in August after being touted as the hottest free-agent fighter on the planet.
With 14 wins from his last 15 outings, the UFD Gym athlete had claimed welterweight and middleweight gold in KSW – Europe’s biggest MMA organization.
The 27-year-old wins in style, too, boasting 17 knockouts from his 20 career victories.
With a 20-3 record overall, it was clear that “Robocop” would be looking for a challenge.
Something Soldic looks for in the upper echelon of ONE’s welterweight division, and that’s exactly what he’ll receive.
Huge Test
For his part, Ramazanov owns a perfect 11-0 slate in his promising MMA career, with three straight wins in the ONE Circle.
The Dagestani wrestling specialist secured a TKO stoppage over Bae Myung Ho in his ONE debut.
Then dominated both Hiroyuki Tetsuka and former ONE Welterweight World Champion Zebaztian Kadestam to mark himself out as a top contender.
The 26-year-old’s grappling will pose some interesting questions to Soldic’s concussive striking, and both men will be tested in every range.
Given their respective hot streaks, an impressive win could put either Soldic or Ramazanov in line for a shot at the ONE Welterweight World Title.
Which is currently held by ONE Championship fan favourite Christian Lee.
What Made Roberto Soldic?
Soldic was born in the small town of Vitez in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995, while the Bosnian War still raged.
Although he was too young to have any memory of it, his father – a mechanic by trade – was forced to fight, and his older siblings remember the horrors that the conflict brought.
Soldic recalls:
“I was born almost as the war was finished, but I was born in war.
Like every war, it was very hard, a very tough life, and a very poor situation. Thank God that my family lived.
“[I don’t remember the war], but my brother and sister can. They know that they always ran from the rockets.
This trauma 100 percent stayed, but I didn’t have any fear.
In Bosnia people are a little bit wild, they don’t have fear. They survived the frontline.”
Once the war ended, the young Soldic enjoyed a normal upbringing, but he did run into some issues.
Above all, he had endless energy and nothing to channel it toward, which resulted in him being expelled from school.
Soldic says:
“I had a good childhood because we used to play outside, not like today with the phones and everything.
And was always a hyperactive kid. I was always on the street playing football.
“They kicked me out from the school two times because I was really hyperactive, and I didn’t have patience for sitting for six hours a day.
It really was hard for me. I always needed to move, and I was a little bit problematic.”
Soldic needed an outlet, and he wanted something more productive than what he saw around him.
His peers would hang out, smoke, and drink – but he had a different vision.
How It All Began
After watching the likes of Croatian hero Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Georges St-Pierre compete, he decided he wanted to be a professional fighter, even if there were no gyms around him to support that dream.
The youngster began with judo, which was the only martial art being taught in his town. But then at 16, he met a local fighter who took him under his wing.
Soldic went on to achieve massive success on the European circuit, winning multiple titles along the way, including the KSW welterweight and middleweight belts.
On a seven-fight winning streak with six KOs, the Croatian sensation fielded offers from all of the biggest MMA organizations around the world, but he felt like ONE was the best platform to realize his dreams.
Roberto Soldic Talks ONE Deal
“Many offers came to me after the end of my KSW contract. I flew to Singapore and I saw something different – good energy and how they respect the guys and care about fighters,” he says.
“Chatri [Sityodtong, ONE Chairman and CEO] flew to Zagreb and did a press conference. We had a very good talk, and I could not say no because the contract was very good for me.
“They said that I can do every combat sport like kickboxing and Muay Thai, which I also wish to do, but for now I focus on MMA.”
“I want to create my own legacy. This is now the world stage for me, and something new for me that has motivated me for training.
“Chatri gave me a lot of respect. He was in the arena [in Zagreb] and said, ‘I’m going to do ONE Championship here with you,’ and this was also something special.
“To bring ONE Championship to Zagreb, that is a big, big move for me, and also for my people in my country – in Croatia and in Bosnia.”
You can catch the highly anticipated debut of Roberto Soldic December 2 at ONE on Prime Video 5: De Ridder vs. Malykhin 8 p.m. ET.
Image Credits ONE Championship
