“Robocop” is free.
Highly regarded Welterweight Roberto Soldic is finally taking his talents to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), making his Octagon debut against fellow knockout artist Khaos Williams at UFC 332 next month (Sat., Oct. 3, 2026) inside Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
However, Soldic’s long-awaited UFC arrival came only after a frustrating four-year detour.
The former two-division KSW champion signed with ONE Championship in Aug. 2022 as one of the hottest free agents in mixed
martial arts (MMA). However, he competed just three times for the Asia-based promotion, essentially costing him several prime years of his career.
Surprisingly, Soldic does not regret choosing ONE over UFC four years ago.
“No, I don’t regret it. At the time, everything was good. It is what it is,” Soldic told Yahoo! Sports. “Life goes on, and I had a good experience there. It needed to happen. I can’t change anything that happened. It is what it is. Now, I can change everything because I have a new chapter. I always move forward.”
Soldic’s ONE debut against Murad Ramazanov ended in a first-round no contest after an accidental knee below the belt left “Robocop” unable to continue. He returned five months later and suffered a second-round knockout loss to Zebaztian Kadestam.
Nearly two years passed before Soldic competed in MMA again, finally returning to knock out Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev in spectacular fashion at ONE 171 in Feb. 2025. That ended up being his final appearance for the promotion.
According to Soldic, his 10-fight agreement was supposed to allow him to compete across MMA, Muay Thai and kickboxing. Those three-sport championship ambitions never came to fruition.
“They always paid. I never had any trouble with the payments — I don’t know what is going on with them,” Soldic said. “I really don’t know what happened with their MMA plans. So many guys left. It was frustrating because I stayed semi-retired.”
“It was hard because I’m always training and always in shape, but I just never got any fights,” Soldic continued. “Sometimes I asked myself, ‘Why do I train so hard when I don’t get any fights?’ It was a hard time, and I got a little depressed. But you can’t change anything, so let’s move forward.”
Soldic remained somewhat active outside MMA, knocking out former boxing champion Tomasz Adamek in an exhibition bout in Sept. 2025. Still, one competitive fight between May 2023 and the expiration of his ONE contract was far from what he envisioned when signing the lucrative deal.
“My contract expired with ONE Championship, and we didn’t want to stay there because it was hard to find opponents,” Soldic said. “There were always some complaints about the opponents, and I waited and waited — three fights in four years. It is what it is. I have a new chapter in my life now, and I’m very focused on this fight and making a good UFC debut.”
Soldic, 31, now plans to remain incredibly active while chasing his dream of capturing UFC gold. With 18 knockouts among his 21 professional victories, he certainly possesses the power to make noise inthe promotion’s ridiculously stacked Welterweight division.
That journey begins against “The Oxfighter” in Utah.
After spending four years waiting, “Robocop” finally gets to pull the trigger.
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