UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis shows humility by complimenting the last fighter to defeat him on their vicious knockout in ONE Championship.
ONE’s Roberto Soldic scored a nasty one-hitter-quitter at ONE Qatar, faceplanting Dagi Arslanaliev with a crisp left hand to secure a first-round knockout.
Soldic had a rocky start to his ONE career, suffering a no-contest by groin strike and then being slept in his second outing. ‘Robocop’ was kept on ice for 2024 before returning with a spectacular victory at ONE Qatar.
As a former KSW two-division champion, Soldic was the last man to defeat Dricus Du Plessis in professional MMA. Soldic and Du Plessis are 1-1, with Soldic having the last laugh in 2018.
This hasn’t stopped Du Plessis from giving Soldic his dues for the impressive finish.
Dricus Du Plessis pays respect to Roberto Soldic after solid ONE Championship knockout
Du Plessis praised his former rival in a comment on Soldic’s knockout on Instagram.
“Wow!!” Du Plessis wrote. “Well done [Soldic]. Hardest left hand in the world I’m talking from experience.”
Whether injury or contractual issues with ONE, Soldic was expected to be more active in the UFC’s rival promotion. The Croatian striker left KSW in 2021, and fans half-expected the UFC to snap him up.
Roberto Soldic could have been a UFC fighter
MMA fans widely criticized the UFC’s decision not to sign Soldic and other regional talents like Salahdine Parnasse, Losene Keita, Cedric Doumbe, and Baysangur Chamsoudinov.
This was exacerbated by the UFC’s eagerness to sign older talent like Michael Page and Patricio Pitbull and late-notice replacement fighters like Austin Vanderford, inadvertently diluting the promotion’s talent pool with older fighters in the last leg of their careers.
Had ‘Robocop’ joined the UFC, fans could have seen a trilogy fight with Du Plessis.