Offered To Perform At UFC, European MMA Fighter Chooses ONE Championship Because Of This

Croatian MMA fighter Roberto Soldic joins ONE Championship despite being offered to the UFC. (Photo via Antara/ONE Championship)

JAKARTA - A bold and surprising decision was taken by a European fighter, Roberto Soldic. The Croatian fighter chose a career in ONE Championship despite receiving an offer to join the UFC.

For Soldic, joining ONE Championship was a better opportunity than accepting an offer from the UFC. According to him, ONE Championship is more challenging.

"ONE is the biggest (martial arts) organization in the world. You know very well what happens when UFC stars go to ONE. They lose, can't win the ONE Championship belt," said Roberto Soldic, in an official release quoted by Antara.

"It makes me want to be a different fighter. I want to try and win the belts that UFC fighters fail to win. They can't (compete) there."

"When I watch ONE live, I see different striking and grappling fights," he continued.

Before Roberto Soldic, there were several former UFC champions who later joined ONE Championship. Call it Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson. Both have struggled to get straight to the top of ONE Championship.

A former UFC title holder and Bellator, Eddie Alvarez has managed just one win in four ONE games. In fact, he had to accept a crushing TKO defeat in the first round on his debut with a face full of wounds.

Soldic feels that the challenges in ONE Championship are at the highest level which can test his qualities to become the greatest fighter in the world.

Prior to joining, the fighter nicknamed “Robocop” was the owner of the welterweight and middleweight division belts at Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW), one of the largest MMA organizations in Europe.

Currently, it has a 20-3 record with a 90 percent completion rate. That is, only two victories that he achieved through the jury's decision. In addition, before jumping into MMA, he also recorded a 4-0 record in boxing.

"I've been to many UFC events, and ONE is both special and different. A true martial art. So I wanted to try this organization and I'm going to try and win all the belts," he added.