Roberto Soldic admitted he was “a little bit out of control” with his late shots on Dagi Arslanaliev, after kick starting his ONE Championship career with a huge KO in Qatar that boss Chatri Sityodtong insisted could earn him a title shot.
“Robocop” put more than two years of frustration since signing with the promotion behind him by knocking out Arslanaliev in the first round with a trademark brutal left hook that lifted him off his feet before planting him on his face.
But the Croatian delivered two hard follow-up shots while the Turkish fighter was out cold on the canvas, as referee Mohamad Sulaiman scrambled to intervene.
Arslanaliev’s team were incensed and stormed the Circle to remonstrate with Soldic and his cornermen, before the two sides were broken up.
“Yeah, I was a little bit out of control when I punched him on the ground,” Soldic said at the post-event press conference. “But, you know, it’s a fight. It’s emotional.
“Some of his teammates asked, ‘Why did you hit him on the ground?’ But this was still in the fight. The referee was on my back. I didn’t see,” Soldic, 30, added.
“I have to finish the fight. Anything can happen, but I have to continue. The referee is there to help me.”
Arslanaliev was still angry about the late shots when he made it backstage at the Lusail Sports Arena, but ONE chairman and CEO Chatri preferred to highlight Soldic’s impressive finish rather than the controversy. “I haven’t seen the video footage yet but I did hear Dagi’s team are very upset because Roberto hit him when he was already out on the ground,” Chatri said at the press conference.
“But we shouldn’t focus on that, Roberto did a phenomenal job. There was a lot of pressure on this fight – he’s had a string of bad luck with injuries too, that’s why he was so happy.”
Former KSW star Soldic – who, famously, was the last man to beat current UFC middleweight MMA champion Dricus Du Plessis, via KO in 2018 – saw his ONE debut called off after three minutes in December 2022 following an accidental knee to the groin by Murad Ramazanov.
Soldic was then finished in the second round by former ONE welterweight MMA champ Zebaztian Kadestam in Denver in May 2023, and had been waiting to make his return ever since.
“You saw Roberto’s monstrous one-punch KO power,” Chatri added. “When I watched him hit pads in Singapore, I’d never seen anyone hit that hard in my life. I’ve seen a lot of incredible strikers, but that left hand is a bomb.
“Obviously Kadestam took it very well in Denver. I definitely want to see a rematch. but I also want to see a potential title shot. But I need to talk to the team and to Christian Lee, so I don’t know. But incredible performance.
“I’d like to see Roberto fight a lot more often. We had to wait for him at the end of last year because he had an injury, but Roberto is back in a huge way.
“Let’s see him compete many times this year. I’ll go back to the drawing board – it might be a title shot, we’ll see the landscape. I definitely want to see the Kadestam rematch.”
Soldic himself is hoping to skip the queue and go straight to welterweight champion Lee, though Kadestam may have something to say about that.
“The future is mine, and when I step in the cage I will be a big problem for anyone, and I hope I fight for the title,” Soldic said.
“This is what I do. This is my job – I’m not surprised. I know what I can do. I kept going. Sometimes in life, you have ups and downs, in your career also. But now everything is alright, and I’m happy.”