It was only a little over a year ago that Steve Erceg was fast-tracked to a flyweight title fight, but after three losses in a row he now fears his place on the roster is now potentially on the line when he goes up against Ode Osbourne at UFC On ESPN 72 on Saturday night.
“Unfortunately, I’m on three losses and I could be fighting for my contract,” Erceg told MMAFighting. “But, yeah, I think when you try to overthink and put too much on your plate, it can be detrimental.
“So I’m going to go out there and I’m going to punch another guy in the face, and if I win, I know I did everything I could to do so. If I [lose], that’s life, unfortunately.”
While Erceg has struggled to get back into the win column lately, the reality is that he’s been going up against some of the division’s best fighters in current champ Alexandre Pantoja, Kai Kara-France and Brandon Moreno.
And the 30-year-old Erceg believes that it’s not so much a skill issue as a mentality issue in those big fights that might be holding him back.
“Honestly, I think the biggest lesson is that I’m the man, I guess,” Erceg said. “I’ve been looking at these guys like, ‘Oh, I’m fighting Moreno, I’m fighting Pantoza,’ and then, ‘Oh, they might know something I don’t know,’ or, ‘Oh, he’s fought five [rounds]’. I’m thinking of all these things about how great they are, and then I’m not giving myself the credit I deserve, I guess.
“So, going out there and going, ‘Oh, I think you’re getting tired,’ and instead of like… I’ll use an example [to] explain it better: In the Pantoja fight, for instance. The fourth round, I was like, ‘Oh, I think he’s getting tired. I should start pushing.’ I was like, he’s been in five round fights a lot. Maybe he’s saving something. Maybe I shouldn’t blow my load and risk getting finished over the top of back, whereas now it’ll be like, ‘No, he is getting tired, screw this guy, let’s break him.’ That’s how I’m trying to look at things.”
