Dec 16, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Alexandre Pantoja (crimson gloves) reacts after defeating Brandon Royval (not pictured) to win the UFC Flyweight title throughout UFC 296 at T-Cell Enviornment. Obligatory Credit score: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports activities
Flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja (27-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC), a local of Rio, will put his belt on the road for the second time when he takes on Australia’s Steve Erceg (12-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC), who raised quite a lot of eyebrows when he was given a title shot simply three fights into his UFC run, and fewer than a 12 months after he debuted within the promotion.
Pantoja had back-to-back bonus-winning submissions of Brandon Royval and Alex Perez to get a shot on the belt. He took it from Brandon Moreno with a break up choice at UFC 290. In December, he outworked Royval in a rematch for his first protection and fifth straight win.
Steve Erceg
Erceg got here on the scene in mid-2023 when a bonus-winning choice over David Dvorak. After a win over Alessandro Costa, he picked up his first UFC stoppage – a bonus-winning knockout of Matt Schnell in early March that obtained him the title shot.
