Australian Steve Erceg gets his UFC title shot on Sunday just 11 months after debuting in the competition, with the Aussie gun hoping to seal his dizzying ascent to the throne when he faces reigning flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja in UFC 301.
34-year-old Pantoja is on a five-fight win streak against the toughest names in the division, and will be making his second defence of the belt when he returns to his native Brazil for the clash in Rio de Janeiro.
28-year-old Erceg has had a meteoric rise since starting his MMA career 1-1 back in 2016.
By the time he entered the UFC he was 9-1 and already looked like a complete package, and Erceg has since strung together three excellent wins capped off by a one-punch knockout of Matt Schnell in March.
That moment demonstrated that Erceg’s technical striking is up to scratch – adding to his formidable grappling that has seen him claim six of his 12 wins by submission – and proved he’s ready for his title shot.
Striking could be the key against Pantoja, himself a renowned submission threat.
UFC 301: PANTOJA VS ERCEG | SUN 5 MAY 12PM AEST | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the new exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View.
Erceg told Fox Sports Australia in March that he found out about the bout in an unusual situation.
Asked what he was doing when the first call come through, the new UFC title challenger laughs: “Eating KFC.
“I had a three piece box and a massive popcorn chicken.
“I remember thinking ‘um, I probably shouldn’t be eating this’ but I couldn’t convince myself to throw it out.
“So I put it in the fridge and ate it over the rest of the day.”
In a division that has been dominated by Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno for the last half-decade, Erceg is a fresh face, but Pantoja is rocketing toward legendary status: win this weekend and he’ll join the great Demetrious Johnson and Figueiredo as the only man to defend the belt twice.
But Alexander Volkanovski is fully behind countryman Erceg’s bid to claim one of Australia’s greatest-ever UFC upsets, on a card where another Aussie Jamie Mullarkey seeks to get his UFC career back on track in the early prelims.
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LEGEND RETURNS … BUT CONTRACT INTRIGUE BUILDS
In the co-main event, UFC Hall of Fame member Jose Aldo is back after a near 18-month retirement to face Jonathan Martinez.
Aldo was on a three-fight winning run before losing to Merab Dvalishvili and taking a break to try his hand at boxing, where he won an exhibition bout then claimed a draw and a win in a pair of professional bouts.
But after a 2023 focused on boxing, he’s back in the octagon – and back to reclaim his ‘King of Rio’ tag.
The 37-year-old is already a two-time UFC featherweight champ and in the conversation for the greatest-ever in that division.
But he faces 19-4 Martinez – a rising star on a six-fight winning run – in a tricky bantamweight clash that could set him up for another title tilt.
“I think that’s every fighter’s goal, to fight for that championship,” Aldo told CBS Sports. “I needed my time off and had my time off. I recovered and now I’m back. Fighting for the belt and becoming the champion, becoming the best, that’s of course what my goal will be.”
While the fight itself is intriguing, what happens after the bout is arguably even more fascinating.
Aldo had one fight remaining on his UFC contract when he ‘retired’ in 2022 – which in actual fact saw the UFC allow him a sabbatical to pursue boxing.
The UFC offered him a new contract upon his return, but Aldo has turned it down.
If he wins, he may have more negotiating leverage over a new deal. Crucial to any deal might be his desire to continue boxing – something the UFC has prevented its fighters from doing in the past.
“We have a lot of offers,” Aldo said. “We could have a boxing match lined up pretty quickly if we wanted to do that. I told them, ‘Let’s wait. Let me go in there and put on a performance. We’ll talk after that to see if we’ll renew a deal or not.’”
That includes potentially fighting on the undercard of Jake Paul against Mike Tyson in July.
Aldo says he didn’t consider signing with a rival MMA promotion, which paves the way for him to lock in a new deal with the UFC.
But losing this weekend would throw a major spanner in the works.
FREAKISH Pereira KO’s Hill in 3 minutes! | 01:11
UFC 301: PANTOJA VS ERCEG | SUN 5 MAY 12PM AEST | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the new exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View.
Coverage of UFC 301 begins on Sunday May 5 at 9.30am AEST on ESPN on Kayo and Foxtel, before the preliminary card begins at 10am.
The main card begins at 12pm, which you can purchase on Kayo and Foxtel here.
FULL CARD
MAIN CARD (12pm AEST, PPV)
Flyweight Title Fight: Alexandre Pantoja (c) vs. Steve Erceg
Bantamweight: Jonathan Martinez vs. José Aldo
Light Heavyweight: Anthony Smith vs. Vitor Petrino
Middleweight: Michel Pereira vs. Ihor Potieria
Middleweight: Paul Craig vs. Caio Borralho
Preliminary card (10am AEST, ESPN on Foxtel and Kayo)
Featherweight: Jack Shore vs. Joanderson Brito
Women’s Strawweight: Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Iasmin Lucindo
Lightweight: Elves Brener vs. Myktybek Orolbai
Featherweight: Jean Silva vs. William Gomis
Early preliminary card (non-televised)
Lightweight: Joaquim Silva vs. Drakkar Klose
Lightweight: Mauricio Ruffy vs. Jamie Mullarkey
Women’s Flyweight: Dione Barbosa vs. Ernesta Kareckaite
Lightweight: Ismael Bonfim vs. Vinc Pichel
Flyweight: Alessandro Costa vs. Kevin Borjas
Source Agencies
