Roberto Soldic boldly claims Mikey Musumeci will submit Shinya Aoki: “He was born for this sport”

Roberto Soldic is one of the most exciting welterweight fighters in ONE Championship, boasting 17 TKO/KO finishes in 20 victories. His start under the world’s largest martial arts organization isn’t ideal, with one no-contest (against Murad Ramazanov) and a knockout loss (against Zebaztian Kadestam) in his first two bouts.

Still, the 28-year-old is a dangerous contender in the welterweight division, and a victory might just be around the corner for him once he returns inside the Circle. Because of his fighting style, which is heavily based on striking, many would think that the Croatian would only fancy watching striking disciplines such as MMA, Muay Thai, and kickboxing.

But Soldic surprised a lot of fans when he revealed that he is also a big grappling fan who follows the sport closely. Among the athletes that ‘Robocop’ admires is reigning ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci, who is coming off a victory against Jarred Brooks at ONE Fight Night 13 last August 4.

The UFD Gym representative is also excited to see ‘Darth Rigatoni’ back in action when he faces Japanese legend and former ONE lightweight world champion Shinya Aoki in an openweight submission grappling match on October 6 at ONE Fight Night 15.

Soldic even gave his bold prediction in the upcoming grappling submission contest between Musumeci and Aoki, saying that the smaller fighter would finish his heavier opponent. ‘Robocop’ shared this thought with ONE Championship in a recent interview:

"I think Mikey is gonna finish him. This is my prediction because he was born for this sport."

Soldic respectfully believes that despite the 35-pound difference between the two grappling submission artists, and the 10 submission wins of Aoki under ONE, Musumeci would still come out as the victor.

ONE Fight Night 15 is free for Prime Video subscribers in North America.