It’s been announced that UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja’s next title defense will come against Steve Erceg at UFC 301 on May 4th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
That’s taken many people by surprise as Erceg is currently only three fights into his UFC run and is currently ranked No.10 in the division.
It wasn’t quite as simple as just picking the top ranked contender to go up against Pantoja though, as he’s now beaten Brandon Royval on two occasions in the past few years. And meanwhile No.2 ranked contender Brandon Moreno is coming off a loss and has lost to Pantoja three times during his career.
Further complicating matters the next two contenders Amir Albazi and Kai Kara-France have both been dealing with injuries, while the No.5 and No.6 ranked Mattheus Nicolau and Manel Kape are currently scheduled to fight only a week prior to UFC 301.
Given that the UFC have put a lot of their eggs into one basket at UFC 300 just a few weeks earlier it means that they are running low on stars for UFC 301, so it was inevitable that a Brazilian champion like Pantoja was going to be on the line-up and they’ve just had to make the best of what they’ve got in terms of an opponent.
However, spare a thought for the undefeated Muhammed Mokaev, who is currently on a six-fight winning streak since joining the UFC and is ranked three places higher than Erceg, yet has apparently been overlooked for the title opportunity.
Nonetheless, it should be said that the 28-year-old Erceg has actually been exceeding expectations since joining the UFC. ‘Astro Boy’ earned decision wins over David Dvorak and Alessandro Costa last year, and looked particularly good during an early second round knockout victory against Matt Schnell just a couple of weeks ago, which appears to have caught the eye of the UFC brass.
This is a major step up in competition for Erceg though as the 33-year-old Pantoja is on a five-fight winning streak, has already beaten other leading contenders multiple times and like his opponent has also beaten Matt Schnell by KO in the past.
Pantoja vs. Erceg joins a UFC 301 event that will also feature Michel Pereira vs. Mukhmud Muradov, Anthony Smith vs. Vitor Petrino and Paul Craig vs. Caio Barralho.
