ONE Championship's Blue-Chip Recruit Teases Date Of Much-Awaited Debut

Roberto Solidic's highly-anticipated debut inside the ONE Championship cage now has a date and it will happen before the year ends.

Through a post on his official Facebook page, the 27-year-old Croatian confirmed that he will be making his maiden appearance under the promotion's banner on December 3 at the 20,000-seater SM Mall Of Asia Arena in Metro Manila, Philippines.

However, it was not indicated at which event set for December 3 that will see Soldic in action as ONE Championship is scheduled to host two separate cards on the aforementioned date.

ONE on Prime Video 5 is booked to happen on the morning of December 3, while ONE 164 featuring the strawweight title grudge match between Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brook is slated to happen later in the evening.

Moreover, Soldic's opponent has not been named yet. But rumors have it that either former ONE welterweight titleholder Zebaztian Kadestam or undefeated Russian prospect Murad Ramazanov could land the job to welcome him.

Soldic made headlines this past August when it was announced that he inked an exclusive multi-fight deal with the Singapore-based combat sports outfit.

Known by his moniker "Robocop," Soldic was one of the most sought-after free agents in mixed martial arts (MMA) after his contract with Poland's KSW expired.

He owns a 20-3 professional record with a remarkable 90% finishing rate and has established himself as one of the best talents on the regional scene by simultaneously holding the KSW welterweight and middleweight belts.

In an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour in August, Soldic admitted that the idea of competing in an organization that also promotes Muay Thai and kickboxing was an offer too good to pass up.

"I chose ONE because it's the biggest martial arts promotion in the world," Soldic told Helwani.

"They give me the opportunity to take all the belts: kickboxing world champion[ship], Muay Thai world champion[ship], MMA world champion[ship], also boxing world champion[ship]. So this makes me something new. I want to create something for my people, for my own legacy. So, I chose ONE for sure."

Despite being scouted by other top-tier promotions such as the UFC, Soldic felt during the negotiations that ONE Championship has a lot more to bring to the table than its competitors.

"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 arts," he stated.

ONE Championship is expected to shed light on Soldic's much-awaited promotional debut in the coming weeks.