Steve Erceg thought Alexandre Pantoja was polite before their UFC 301 fight, but wasn’t impressed with the champion’s behavior after the bout.
Erceg has risen several notches in the rankings and now has the opportunity of a lifetime to face Pantoja in a title fight at UFC 301 on May 4 in Brazil. Pantoja won by unanimous decision to retain his flyweight belt, but Erceg took a serious shot at the champion and proved he can go toe-to-toe with the best.
While Erceg had a lot of respect for Pantoja before the fight, comments made by “The Cannibal” after the bout left the Australian with mixed emotions. During an appearance on the “Show Me the Money” podcast, Pantoja said that Erceg’s punches looked like they were coming from a girl. Erceg disputed Pantoja’s comments, pointing out after the bout that the Brazilian didn’t look like he’d been punched by a girl.
“He’s a good guy, obviously with his family. I liked the way he carried himself,” Erceg told Main Event. “He was nice to me, but after the fight he said, ‘I hit you like a girl,’ or something like that. If you want to say things like that to me, you have to respect me and then you don’t have to say bad things about me otherwise. So I don’t know how to feel. Of course I’d like to punch him in the face. If I punched him like a girl, I don’t know what kind of girl you were with, but after the fight your face would be bloody and cut up.”
Erceg has always believed he could beat Pantoja but missed out on that opportunity at UFC 301. “Astro Boy” reiterated that stance, claiming it will take him years to win because he believes Pantoja is “flawed” in several areas.
“Give me another year, maybe two,” Erceg said. “I have some things to fix, but I’m confident I can beat this guy. I’m upset that I lost to this guy. He’s a champion, but he’s flawed in a lot of ways. They say the flyweight division is the most technical in the UFC, but when you have a guy who can strike like that, it’s really concerning.”
