The evening in Rio wraps with hometown champion Alexandre Pantoja returning to defend his flyweight title against streaking Australian contender Stephen Erceg.
Pantoja claimed the belt last July in a competitive, close battle with two-time champ Brandon Moreno, and successfully defended the title for the first time in December, out-wrestling Brandon Royval to retain his position atop the division and run his winning streak to five. The American Top Team product has always leaned heavily on his grappling, favoring positional dominance over inflicting damage while searching for submission openings that never materialized in his last two outings.
UFC 301 FREE FIGHTS: Pantoja vs Moreno 2 | Erceg vs Schnell
Erceg forced his way into the rankings after his promotional debut, turning up in Vancouver and out-working Top 15 fixture David Dvorak in June. After getting the better of Alessandro Costa in November to extend his overall winning streak to double digits, “Astroboy” announced himself as a legitimate threat in the division with a second-round knockout win over Matt Schnell in March.
This is an outstanding pairing. Pantoja has dialed back his aggressiveness while committing more to his grappling in recent showings, but the challenger is a well-rounded talent that could very well push the champion to his limits on his home turf on Saturday evening.
