Steve Erceg has been in the UFC for less than a year. He made his debut in June 2023 with a decision victory that earned the Australian flyweight a performance of the night bonus, and followed that with a decision win over Alessandro Costa in November, then scored a first-round knockout of Matt Schnell in March.
That most recent win, over a top-10 125-pounder, earned Erceg another postfight bonus -- and a title shot. He will challenge Alexandre Pantoja in the main event of UFC 301 on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro (main card on ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET, with prelims on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. and early prelims on ESPN+ at 6 p.m.).
Erceg (12-1), though a winner of 11 fights in a row, might seem to be a premature title challenger, but the champion has cleaned out the top of the division. Pantoja (27-5) owns three wins over former champ Brandon Moreno (one of them officially an exhibition because it came on "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show), two victories over recent title challenger Brandon Royval, plus wins over contenders Schnell, Alex Perez and Manel Kape. So now Erceg gets a shot at him.
Andreas Hale spoke to MMA coach and ESPN analyst Din Thomas to get his perspective on the main event. ESPN betting expert Ian Parker adds his insights and analysis on the main event and other intriguing bets he likes on the card.
Editor's note: Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.