Riding an 11-fight winning streak, Steve Arseg takes on flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja in the main event of UFC 301 on Saturday, May 4th. The PPV fight card will be broadcast live from the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The No. 10 ranked contender from Australia is confident of victory against the host nation’s representative.
Erceg (12-1) is coming off a second-round knockout victory over Matt Schnell in March. The 28-year-old from Perth, Western Australia, who stepped into his rival’s Octagon at UFC 301 in early May, is looking to pull off an upset and derail Pantoja’s second title defense (27-5).
“My plan is mainly to punch him in the face and try not to get hit,” Steve Arseg said on a recent UFC Fight Camp episode with Phil Murphy and Megan Anderson. “He’s going to do something obviously reckless again. I’m going to try to stay on the outside. I think it’s like dying in a thousand cuts. If I go in there and try to hit him hard, or I’ll give him a chance to get in there and grapple with me and get into the midrange and he’ll have an advantage there…but if I’m just being gentle and technical, nice and long – that’s going to give him It will be frustrating and difficult for him.”
“But at the end of the day, I believe in my grappling. After my last fight, before people started calling me a striker, they were saying I can’t attack, I’m a grappler. So , I have full faith in my ground ability and wrestling, and I think I can really win on the feet.
In March, Ultimate Fighting Championship announced its return to Australia with UFC 305 to be held on August 18th at the RAC Arena in Perth, WA. Erceg also said he would like to fight in front of his hometown crowd.
“It is amazing [that UFC is back in Perth]said Erceg. “I don’t know how they could have avoided coming back after the last fight. The crowd was amazing and obviously the event was great too. It’s clear that Perth is hungry for martial arts. They love it and are eating it up, so I’m excited and can’t wait to turn things around and perform in front of the Perth crowd.”
In the co-main event of UFC 301, Brazil’s former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo (31-8) returns to the Octagon to take on LA’s Jonathan Martinez (19-4). The card also features former light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Smith (37-19) of Corpus Christi, Texas, taking on undefeated Brazilian Vitor Petrino (11-0). Brazil’s Ichel Pereira (30-11, No. 2 in North Carolina) and Ukraine’s Ihor Potieria (20-5) will clash in the middleweight division. Also in the middleweight division, Brazilian Caio Boralho (15-1, 1 NC State) will take on Scotland’s Paul Craig (17-7-1).
