Former UFC Flyweight Title Contender Will get New Opponent
Steve Erceg (12-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) has loved a rollercoaster journey to the highest of the game over the previous two years. “Astroboy” solely made his debut contained in the Octagon in June of 2023 when he beat David Dvorak by unanimous choice at UFC 289 in Vancouver, Canada.
He adopted that up with one other victory over Alessandro Costa at UFC 295 in Madison Sq. Backyard in November of that yr and when he knocked out Matt Schnell with a picture-perfect left hook in early 2024, the Australian discovered himself in the fitting place on the proper time to get a short-notice call-up to face Alexandre Pantoja for the UFC flyweight title at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro.
The 29-year-old in the end got here up brief, dropping a five-round choice to “The Cannibal” however the battle was aggressive sufficient to mark Erceg out as one other contender within the UFC flyweight title dialogue going ahead.
Catastrophe Strikes On House Soil
Steve Erceg returned to motion simply three months later at UFC 305 which happened in his house city of Perth, Western Australia. He entered the co-main occasion in opposition to New Zealand’s Kai Kara-France as a slight favourite, however suffered a first-round KO defeat to the Kiwi.
Within the area of simply fourteen months, Erceg went from profitable his opening three fights within the UFC to difficult for the title, earlier than then discovering himself on a two-fight skid.
He will get the chance to get again to profitable methods at UFC Battle Evening: Royval vs. Kape on March 1st on the UFC Apex.
Two High Ten Contenders To Sq. Off At The Apex
Standing throughout the Octagon from Erceg shall be Asu Almabayev (21-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC). The Khazak-born fighter has loved a sensational begin to life within the UFC flyweight division. He earned a efficiency of the evening bonus when he submitted Ode Osbourne in his UFC debut in august of 2023.
Asu Almabayev will battle Steve Erceg at #UFCVegas103 on March 1st. (first rep. Dar Professional Workforce) #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN #UFC2025 pic.twitter.com/PahvSsekeP
— Marcel Dorff 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24) January 10, 2025
The 30-year-old then went on to rack up a hat-trick of unanimous choice victories in 2024, beating CJ Vergara, Jose Johnson and Matheus Nicolau.
With the UFC’s flyweight division crying out for a viable contender to Alexandre Pantoja’s crown, one or two sturdy performances this yr might nicely thrust both Erceg or Almabayev into the combination for the subsequent shot on the UFC flyweight title.
UFC Battle Evening: Royval vs. Kape occurs on March 1st on the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Take a look at the complete battle card beneath:
Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape (flyweight)
Nasrat Haqparast vs. Esteban Ribovics (light-weight)
Asu Almabayev vs. Steve Erceg (flyweight)
Montana De La Rosa vs. Luana Carolina (flyweight)
Lucas Almeida vs. Danny Silva (featherweight)
William Gomis vs. Hyder Amil (featherweight)
Danny Barlow vs. Sam Patterson (welterweight)
Cody Brundage vs. Julian Marquez (middleweight)
Andrea Lee vs. JJ Aldrich(flyweight)
Charles Johnson vs. Ramazan Temirov (flyweight)
