“Always gave me better guys than me” - Roberto Soldic did not have it easy early in his MMA career

'Robocop' Roberto Soldic will finally make his debut in ONE Championship this weekend. Since vacating his two titles in KSW, fans have been eagerly awaiting to see how the southpaw knockout artist performs in the circle.

Croatia's Soldic has been given a major test, as he's set to meet undefeated Dagestani wrestler Murad Ramazanov for his debut match in ONE Championship. The fight will take place at ONE on Prime Video 5.

ONE on Prime Video 5: De Ridder vs. Malykhin broadcasts live on Friday, December 2, and is free for fans in the United States and Canada with an Amazon Prime subscription.

Prior to joining ONE, Soldic held the KSW welterweight and middleweight titles, which were both earned via knockout. 'Robocop' was able to develop his deep MMA skillset so quickly because he was always given highly proficient opponents to fight against.

While speaking with ONE Championship, the Croatian southpaw explained:

"I got beat up sometimes in the gym because I was just beginning. These guys trained like five to 10 years in MMA, so I was just a new kid in the group. But I never gave up, you know? And then every time Ivan [my manager] found me a fight, he always gave me better guys than me, so it’s always with a positive record."

Roberto Soldic was pushed into developing his hand in MMA quite quickly. He continued:

"He pushed me into the fire, so I don't have anything to lose and when they say 400 Euro, 500 Euro, it was big money at that time."

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Roberto Soldic learned MMA from YouTube

In addition to some of the world-class training Roberto Soldic was involved with, the Croatian also learned a lot of his MMA repertoire from YouTube.

'Robocop' explained his development in an interview with ONE, saying:

“I said, ‘Give me six months. I will be ready.’ I followed YouTube a little bit. I was without coaches, without anything. I just followed the rules on what to do every day – train two times a day, do pads, judo, strength and conditioning, ground-and-pound, this kind of stuff."

He had very little experience in his very first matchup but pushed to the win through sheer willpower. Roberto Soldic continued:

"I went in the cage before I’d ever done any sparring before. The guy was very dangerous ... I didn’t give up. And then the second round he tried to take me down. I escaped and went to ground-and-pound him. I caught him with a left hand in the head and I saw that I hurt him."