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Chatri Sityodtong says ONE Championship hit the jackpot when the promotion was able to land sought-after free agent Roberto Soldic this past August.
The decorated Croatian fighter, after all, garnered massive interest from major promotions before deciding to sign with the largest martial arts organization in the world.
ONE’s Chairman and CEO recently sat down on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, and touched upon how excited he is to have ‘Robocop’ on board:
“I don’t know. I think the free agency market, we’ve been very, very selective about who we like. We had Roberto Soldic, who I think is literally the next big thing in combat sports, but we’ve been hyper selective.”
He added:
“He had offers from everybody. You know it’s just one of those things when you click.”
Sityodtong and Roberto Soldic’s camp were able to hit it off right away and agreed to meet at ONE’s home base in Singapore.
By the end of the night, both parties deemed their values to be aligned and came to a mutual understanding.
Sityodtong further added:
“I don’t know, we all just hit it off. The first call we had, we really hit it off. They came to Singapore. I think they received an offer from the UFC, maybe a couple of organizations, and Ivan reached out to me and said ‘Hey can we come to Singapore?’ I said ‘Yeah of course’ and then they came to Singapore and they came to one of our events, talked to a bunch of the athletes, and then just clicked. We just hit it off.”
Roberto Soldic, who has 20 MMA wins including 17 KOs, will finally be able to showcase his stuff on the global stage before the year ends.
A fighter of this caliber, of course, deserves a worthy opponent, and Sityodtong made sure he’ll be tested inside the circle right away.
He shared:
“He’s debuting this December on Amazon Prime, in Manila -- ‘The Thrilla in Manila’. He’s going up against the No.1 Dagestani wrestler right now, literally the No.1 guy, Murad Ramazanov. If you ask any Dagestani, this guy is the killer.”
Watch Chatri Sityodtong’s full interview below:
Murad Ramazanov will be a stiff challenge for Roberto Soldic
As mentioned, Roberto Soldic will be headlining the ONE on Prime Video 5 card in the promotion’s return to Manila, Philippines on October 3.
His debut will be watched by millions of North American MMA fans, as the bout will air live on US Primetime via Prime Video.
Standing across from him will be Murad Ramazanov, who is yet to taste defeat in his first 11 MMA bouts.
The 26-year-old Dagestani wrestler has won his first three fights inside the circle, blitzing through Bae Myung Ho, Hiroyuki Tetsuka, and former ONE welterweight world champion Zebaztian Kadestam.
Ramazanov’s last outing was the most impressive win of his young MMA career so far, as he was able to impose his will against a feared KO artist like Kadestam.
He’ll be looking to do the same against the Croatian and stop the Roberto Soldic hype train in its tracks.
