"A few guys punched me and that woke up my ego" - Arian Sadikovic recalls his rough welcome to kickboxing

A teenage Arian Sadikovic already thought he was a big shot when he was growing up in Hannover, Germany. Then he got punched in the face...

Sadikovic was caught up in the streets during his years as a youth and his older brother had no choice but to intervene. The brothers eventually went to a local kickboxing gym and it was during that visit that Sadikovic began falling in love with the sport.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Sadikovic said he already enjoyed watching the sport with his father, but it was that push from his older brother that made him into a career martial artist.

Arian Sadikovic said:

“To tell you the truth, I went to the gym, and a few guys punched me, and that woke up my ego. I was a little fat guy. Those guys were older and bigger than me. I was so angry – I wanted to find a way to punch them back, to get better than them, so I kept going back.”

Humbling as his experience may be, the strikes he absorbed planted the seeds for his love of kickboxing.

Sadikovic, the middle child of three brothers, said his older sibling figured out that he needed to channel his energy into something productive.

“At one point, my big brother told me, ‘Man, you’re making a lot of problems outside. You need to defend yourself, so come with me to a kickboxing gym.’ At that time, he was doing taekwondo, and he told me, ‘If you like boxing and kickboxing, come with me to the gym.’ So it started. I was 13 or 14.”

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Arian Sadikovic has his sights on the gold

Sadikovic’s hard work inside the gym eventually paid off for him. He earned a reputation as one of the most dangerous strikers in the world and that explosive style ultimately landed him a contract with ONE Championship.

In just his second fight for the promotion, the man known as ‘Game Over’ will headline his first card.

Arian Sadikovic will challenge Regian Eersel for the ONE lightweight kickboxing world title at ONE 156: Eersel vs. Sadikovic on April 22, which will be broadcast live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The 27-year-old said that fighting Eersel is a testament to his hard work. While he’s yet to touch ONE Championship’s new 26.4-pound belt, Sadikovic already sees the title shot as the biggest moment of his career.

“Getting this world title shot is definitely the best moment of my career. This is the best moment of my life in this sport. I fought a lot of very strong fighters in a lot of organizations, but of course [Eersel] is [the toughest opponent]. But I think everybody can be beaten.”

Tune in for ONE 156 to find out if Sadikovic can dethrone the seemingly unstoppable Eersel and secure the belt.