Roberto Soldic has not found success as of yet in ONE Championship, but MMA royalty still praises his skills. The talented knockout artist remains one of Europe’s premiere talents. In a recent interview, Gegard Mousasi heralded the Croatian’s power.
“The biggest puncher, I will give it to Roberto Soldic. He was the double champion in KSW and now he’s fighting in ONE Championship,” Mousasi told talkSPORT.
Soldic rose to prominence in the sport with a string of knockouts in KSW. His power allowed him to capture the KSW Welterweight and Middleweight Championships. When he signed on the dotted line with ONE, Soldic had the same dreams of dual-division gold.
But he has found the step up in competition to be tough. After a no-contest in his debut, Soldic met former ONE Welterweight World Champion Zebaztian Kadestam at ONE Fight Night 10. After a good first round for the Croatian, Kadestam rebounded to pull off an upset knockout of his own.
“Robocop” will learn from his defeat and come back stronger. That will be a concerning proposition for anyone who stands across the Circle from him in the future. With 17 knockouts to his credit, Soldic will be looking for a massive statement to get back in the win column when he returns.
That is where Mousasi’s statements should be a word of warning. The longtime great has shared time against the best of the best, including Lyoto Machida, Vitor Belfort, Dan Henderson, Gary Goodridge, Melvin Manhoef, Mark Hunt, and many more. Even with that long list of hall-of-fame caliber names, Mousasi puts Soldic at the top of the list in terms of power.
“He went slow with me, but when he hits you, you feel the punch. He’s a naturally gifted heavy puncher. I haven’t seen anybody like that. Even if he doesn’t try to hurt you, he hurts you.”
If those words power “Robocop” to return with even more ferocity, Soldic could realize all his dreams in ONE. His recent loss is only a tiny setback and could serve to propel him to greatness. Should it happen, Soldic will become the face of European martial arts and a global superstar.
