“UFC stars when they go to ONE Championship, they lose” - Roberto Soldic tells Ariel Helwani

New signing Roberto Soldic will try to do what former UFC stars failed to do when they joined ONE Championship, and that is to win a ONE world title.

Soldic recently signed with ONE Championship in a massive deal that will witness the Croatian star fight not just to compete in MMA but also in other disciplines.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, the former KSW welterweight and middleweight world champion said he wants to collect all the belts he can in ONE Championship and pursue what the likes of Demetrious Johnson, Eddie Alvarez, and Sage Northcutt are yet to achieve.

Roberto Soldic said:

“It's a better opportunity. We know it's the biggest organization in the world. Because you know what happened with UFC stars when they go to ONE Championship, they lose. They cannot take the ONE belt, the ONE Championship belt.”

Of the three fighters, only Johnson has come close to a ONE world title. His first bid for the belt, however, ended in disaster after he lost via knockout to ONE flyweight world champion Adriano Moraes in April 2021.

The 27-year-old Croatian knockout machine was a sought-after free agent among major organizations, with the UFC and Bellator aiming to get his signature on the dotted line.

It was ONE Championship, however, that landed Soldic after KSW’s two-division world champion saw firsthand how the Asian organization operates:

“I want to try to take this belt where UFC fighters failed, how to say they don't show up. You know, I see when I watched the live ONE Championship shows, I saw a different striking game, grappling game, and I went also to many UFC events but ONE Championship is something special, something different -- true martial art.”

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ONE Championship’s multiple disciplines were a draw for Roberto Soldic

Unlike other major organizations that solely focus on MMA, ONE Championship boasts a plethora of martial arts disciplines that Roberto Soldic wants to compete in.

The promotion prides itself on being one of the homes of martial arts, putting equal focus on MMA, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and submission grappling.

According to Soldic, ONE Championship presented him with the opportunity to become a world champion in Muay Thai, MMA, and even possibly boxing.

In the same interview, Roberto Soldic said:

“I chose ONE [Championship] because it’s the biggest [platform] for martial arts in the world. They give me the opportunity to take all the belts, kickboxing world champion, Muay Thai world champion, MMA world champion, and also boxing world champion… This is something new I want to create something for my people — my whole legacy.”