Recent UFC flyweight title challenger, Steve Erceg, has labeled the current champion, Alexandre Pantoja, as ‘deficient in so many areas’, with the Australian rumored to be returning at UFC 305 this coming August.

At UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro this past May, Steve Erceg took the Brazilian flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja, to an extremely close decision after surprisingly being given the title shot.

On two of the judges’ scorecards, the fight was split heading into the final round, and ‘Astroboy’ began the fifth round on top. Despite that, the 28-year-old made a big mistake halfway through the final five minutes, by shooting for a takedown.

Steve Erceg still emotional over UFC 301 loss, labels Pantoja as ‘deficient in so many areas’

After shooting for a surprising takedown, Erceg was reversed by ‘The Cannibal’ who then spent the remainder of the round on top, subsequently edging the fight 3-2.

Photo by Leandro Bernardes/PxImages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Despite being over a month removed from his disappointing loss, Erceg stated that he still gets emotional about it, and whenever he watches it back, he grows in frustration.

“I hate the fact that that guy beat me,” the 28-year-old told mainevent, whilst watching back his fight.

“He’s so deficient in so many areas and he’s the champion. People talk about how the flyweight division is the most technical in the UFC and then to have some guy that strikes like that bothers me greatly,” Erceg frustratingly admitted.

After the Brazilian defended his title for the second time, he stated that he wanted to take a break from fighting, which didn’t sit well with ‘Astroboy’.

“I feel like he was the better competitor and I was the better fighter. I feel like if we were to fight to the death there’s only one person getting out of that one, and it’s not him.

“There’s just something about Pantoja (that frustrates me). One thing I realized too is he talks a lot. I guess everything (he does) annoys me now but I feel like he just talks for so long. I’m laughing at him bragging about how often he’s fighting, he fought three times in a year, very good well done, you’re a hero,” Erceg jabbed.

Erceg’s next fight rumored for UFC 305 in Perth, Western Australia

With the Australian looking to return to the win column and possibly earn another title shot, his next fight has been rumored for UFC 305 on August 18, in Perth, Western Australia.

Erceg confirmed on his Instagram recently that he has ‘fight news coming soon’, with Kai Kara-France being his rumored opponent.

‘Don’t Blink’ hasn’t fought since June last year, when he controversially lost against Amir Albazi. The 31-year-old was then scheduled to fight Manel Kape at UFC 293 last September but withdrew from the fight due to a concussion.

Last week when Dana White announced that Conor McGregor was out of his UFC 303 fight against Michael Chandler, eagle-eyed fans spotted the UFC 305 card in the background of the ‘War Room’, with Erceg’s name appearing on the board, underneath Israel Adesanya.

Atop of the card is a title fight between middleweight champion, Dricus Du Plessis and the returning Adesanya, with that fight having now been confirmed by Marcel Dorff.