ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong hopes Roberto Soldic's spectacular finish in Qatar will be the start of something magical for him in the organization.
The Croatian knockout machine brought an end to his wait for a first triumph in ONE Championship with a stunning first-round finish of Turkish slugger Dagi Arslanaliev in their welterweight MMA fight at ONE 171 last Thursday, Feb. 20.
After dealing with Arslanaliev's early onslaught, the UFD Gym superstar countered a kick to slam in a left hook for his 18th career knockout.
Like most fight fans, Sityodtong was beyond impressed by Roberto Soldic's crushing finish. The lifelong martial artist, who awarded 'Robocop' a US$50,000 performance bonus, hopes he can build on this victory and go all the way to attain 26 pounds of gold.
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Sityodtong told the media during the post-event press conference at ONE 171: Qatar:
"I would like to see Roberto fight a lot more often. So, you know, again, he had some injuries, and then even towards the end of last year, the injury, you know, we had to wait for him. Of course, there are other issues going on, but at the end of the day, Roberto is back - and he's back in a huge way. So let's see him competing many, many times this year."
Watch the presser here:
Soldic's knockout was one of many highlight-reel finishes that descended upon the Lusail Sports Arena last week.
Other stars who enjoyed an early day in the office at ONE 171 were Joshua Pacio, Shamil Erdogan, Kirill Grishenko, Jake Peacock, Ayaka Miura and Kade Ruotolo. The entire replay of the fight card is available at watch.onefc.com.
Dricus du Plessis full of praise for Roberto Soldic's dynamite fist: "Hardest left hand in the world:
UFC middleweight world champion Dricus du Plessis, an old rival of Roberto Soldic, also praised the Croatian knockout machine for his wicked finish in the Middle East.
The South African star dropped this in the comment section of a post shared by the promotion recapping Soldic's KO in Qatar:
"Wow!! Well done @soldicmma Hardest left hand in the world I'm talking from experience."
Du Plessis knocked out the UFD Gym star during their first encounter in April 2018. However, Roberto Soldic leveled the series with a highlight-reel finish of his own six months later.