It's been a while, but it’s time for another Fighter Studies, and this one is on number 9 ranked flyweight Steve Erceg.
Name: Steve Erceg
Age: 29
Fighting out of: Perth, Australia
Record: 12-3
Height: 5’8”(173cm)
Reach: 68.5”(174cm)
Weight: 125
UFC 289 v David Dvořák
Erceg’s debut fight was against Dvořák, who at the time was 10th in the rankings, which for a debut is a big chance to be given for Erceg.
You see Dvořák use leg kicks early, but Erceg gets a good read on it and times a straight down the middle when Dvořák was leaving his hands to throw the leg kicks.
On the inside, Erceg is able to catch Dvořák on the side of the head, which draws a reaction out of him.
Erceg sets up a nice straight down the middle with a hook to the body, leaving Dvořák open and slightly wobbling him.
It seems Erceg drops Dvořák with a head kick, but he slips at the same time, so he transitions to a guillotine, but Dvořák is able to escape it and end up on top.
In the third round, it looks as if Dvořák went for a takedown, but Erceg sprawls well and ends up taking Dvořák’s back, but the fight ends up standing not long after.
Erceg gets his own takedown with less than a minute left in the fight against the cage and ends the fight throwing strikes to round off a good debut performance.
Erceg won by decision in a really good performance for his debut, especially considering it was a ranked fight against a solid opponent in David Dvořák. Erceg showed how competitive he could be with ranked fighters.
UFC 295 v Alessandro Costa
Erceg’s next fight would be at UFC 295, where it was originally meant to be Matt Schnell, but due to Schnell withdrawing, Alessandro Costa stepped up to save the fight.
Erceg is fighting smart by staying just out of range, landing leg kicks, and his reach advantage to strike, as he knows Costa wants to be on the inside and be aggressive.
Erceg’s volume is very nice to watch in the first round. He only threw combinations which worked well against Costa.
Erceg lands a beautiful right hand after setting it up by teasing the jab to the body, leaving the right-hand side open, and it causes Costa to shoot for a takedown.
Erceg transitions to mount, and as Costa is trying to move, Erceg tries to get a choke, but Costa survives, and the fight gets back to the feet right as the round ends.
Erceg does seem to land a left hook early in the second round, which wobbles Costa, but not much comes from it.
Costa has a bit of success whenever he pressures Erceg and gets him to strike with him.
Erceg shows great takedown defence when Costa tries to bring it to the ground, but the fight does end up on the ground against the cage when Costa is able to get the trip when against the cage and lands in mount.
Erceg shows good defence and scrambles from the ground and gets the fight back up against the cage, and starts throwing strikes in the clinch. Costa does jump for an armbar, but it slips off, and Erceg goes back to the clinch.
In a break from the clinch, Costa lands something that stumbles Erce,g who goes to the ground but is smart enough to transition to him being on top with less than a minute in the second round.
Erceg spends most of the last round doing solid work in the clinch and using his nice jab.
The fight goes to a decision, which Erceg won. A good test for Erceg as he was taking someone on who came in on short notice and was an unknown quantity. He showed some good stuff but clearly wasn’t as prepared to face Costa and his style as he was ready for Matt Schnell.
UFC Vegas 87 v Matt Schnell
Erceg finally gets to face Matt Schnell at UFC Vegas 87. Schnell is a very solid fighter who a win against shows you are ready for a good enough level in the flyweight division.
You see Schnell pressuring early, but Erceg is aware and is able to counter the pressuring with nice boxing, which pushes Schnell back to the middle.
Erceg is setting up the slip and then counter in the first round. He slips a few strikes but just couldn’t find the range for the counter yet.
Schnell is being aggressive in the first, but Erceg is doing a good job of dealing with the pressure and landing nice and clean shots when Schnell is over-committing.
Erceg’s boxing is looking beautiful early, and he stumbles Schnell with about a minute and a half of the round left, but Schnell is still there and is able to throw back his own solid strikes.
Erceg’s 1-2 is working constantly in the first round with Schnell clearly feeling the damage from them.
The second round starts quickly, with Schnell pressuring and Erceg working from the outside.
Erceg sets up a beautiful left hook after throwing a straight to the body, which leaves Schnell’s head wide open, and the left hook knocks Schnell clean out.
Fantastic knockout and performance from Erceg here. Schnell is a skilled and good opponent whose weakness has been his willingness to get into a scrap and his chin. Erceg didn’t need to go into a dogfight, but he used his clean boxing to get the finish.
UFC 301 v Alexandre Pantoja (Title Shot)
Steve Erceg’s next fight would be for the title, as Pantoja had cleared out most of the division, and Erceg was the next one on the list.
Pantoja starts the fight aggressively, going for Erceg, but Erceg does a good job of countering and catching Pantoja early in the first.
Pantoja gets a takedown and controls the rest of the round but Erceg did alright to not take too much damage on the ground with a guy like Pantoja.
Erceg’s jab is looking good early in the second round, but Pantoja is able to get the fight back to the ground to get control of the fight again but Erceg reverses the position well and gets the fight back to standing.
Erceg was doing a good job catching Pantoja whenever he rushed in with a counter left hook, which always got Pantoja to react.
Pantoja tries for another takedown but Erceg is able to defend it well and keeps the fight standing.
The fight is being decided on who can lead the fight. If Erceg keeps it standing, his striking is the cleaner, but if Pantoja gets it to the ground, he does great work from there.
Erceg is landing very well when countering and landing nice elbows when Pantoja rushes in, but Pantoja is able to get a takedown in the third round as he is just so aggressive.
Erceg’s striking has stayed very consistent even into the fourth round. He’s doing real damage to Pantoja, who does not enjoy it.
One thing that is a bit disappointing from Erceg is him trying takedowns as I think it just gave Pantoja a chance to get somewhere he wanted to be. The more it stayed on the feet, the better Erceg’s chances were.
Going into the fifth round, it is a very close fight, which, for Erceg’s fourth UFC, is a real testament to his ability.
Erceg starts the fifth round by getting a takedown, but Pantoja is able to reverse it and get control of Ecreg against the cage.
There’s some fun scrambling between both guys in the last round, but Pantoja is able to stay on top of Erceg until the end of the fight.
Pantoja would retain his title after a close and impressive fight with Steve Erceg. Erceg really held his own in there against the champion, which, for him, should be a promising sign for his future.
UFC 305 v Kai Kara France
After a spirited effort in his last fight for the title against Pantoja, Erceg fights three months later against Kai Kara France at UFC 305 in Australia.
You see, early on, the height difference is very apparent, with both guys trying to work out their best plan of attack to counter the differences.
KKF is targeting Erceg's body, which is a smart decision to get Erceg to lower his guard for the big overhand over the top.
Erceg is doing alright early against KKF by staying just out of range, working his jab, and using leg kicks, which is the smart plan to do against a smaller guy with big power.
KKF comes into Erceg's range while switching stances and catches Erceg off guard with the left hook, which KKF keeps up the attack until the ref steps in.
Unlucky for Erceg as he was doing a good job early in this fight, but against a guy like KKF, whose main thing is his power and getting into range, he fell asleep there for a second, which you can’t against a guy with KKF’s power.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
This was a fun one to do as Steve Erceg is a really good fighter and someone I see being at the top of the division for a while and maybe eventually holding the belt one day. His striking is very clean, and he’s even got a decent enough ground game to survive against a guy like Pantoja, which speaks volumes to his ability.
There are rumours that his next fight will be against Asu Almabayev, which makes sense as he has lost two on the bounce, so fighting a guy on his way up is what was expected. If that fight happens, Erceg is going to need to be ready for a very grapple-heavy fight, but whatever is next for Erceg, I can’t wait to see him perform, as he is a very fun fighter to watch.