Dagi Arslanaliev will not be fazed by Roberto Soldic’s impressive resume ahead of their highly anticipated ONE 171: Qatar bout next Thursday.
Arslanaliev and Soldic will face each other in a battle between two of the most gifted welterweight MMA stars in the world inside the Lusail Sports Arena on Thursday February 20.
While Arslanaliev has established himself as a promotional star since joining ONE Championship where he owns an 8-3 overall record (including one loss under submission grappling rules), Soldic has found life difficult since joining the global martial arts organization.
Despite his difficult start at ONE Championship where his debut ended in a no-contest and he lost his second bout via knockout, Soldic is still one of Europe’s best knockout artists – and he will surely be fired up to pick up his first win at ONE.
However, Arslanaliev has played down his Croatian opponent’s skillset despite the latter’s lost list of achievements.
“Maybe Soldic is a very tough guy, but I haven’t seen anything particularly dangerous from him. Any opponent can be dangerous if you yawn and sleep with your mouth open, you know? Then anything can happen. I’ll just work hard and see how things go. I don’t really focus too much on his strengths or weaknesses. I just do my job,” Arslanaliev said.
Since joining ONE Championship, Arslanaliev has remained in the upper echelon of the ONE lightweight MMA division, racking up eight MMA wins and eight highlight-reel finishes in the division and also reaching the final of the 2019 ONE Lightweight MMA World Grand Prix.
The bout will represent Arslanaliev’s first at welterweight as he moves up from the lightweight division where he made a name for himself.
However, the Turkish star is still confident he will leave Qatar with a big win.
“It doesn’t matter what weight he’s at. When we step into the cage, it’s just him and me. His supporters and mine stay outside,” Arslanaliev said.
ONE 171: Qatar kicks off at 5PM Mecca on Thursday, February 20 and will be broadcast live via beIN SPORTS.
