At first glance, Alexander Volkanovski and Steve Erceg do not have much in common. However, despite the flyweight title contender’s short UFC career and middle-aged dad looks (considering the Michael Scott memes associated with the Aussie), he is one of the toughest fighters not just in the world but also in the UFC’s flyweight division that has no shortage of tough guys.
This is why flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja chose to fight the Australian despite him being ranked #10 in the UFC flyweight rankings. Ahead of Steve Erceg’s UFC 301 title clash against Pantoja on the latter’s home turf, the Australian met with Volkanovski to pick the legendarily tough former featherweight champion’s brains. And ‘Volk’ did not hesitate to share his insights.
Alexander Volkanovski tells Steve Erceg to ‘enjoy’ the hate from the crowd
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UFC Australia and New Zealand posted a video on its official Twitter account where Alexander Volkanovski could be seen asking Erceg about the location of his UFC 301 clash against Pantoja. “Is it [location of your next fight] Rio [de Janeiro]?” the former champion asked. ‘Astroboy’ confirmed this and told ‘Volk’ he was expecting a hostile reception from the Rio audience, whom he expects to firmly be in their compatriot Pantoja’s corner. “A lot of people yelling for me to die,” Erceg said.
Volkanovski, however, advised him to prepare mentally for the hate from the crowd and concentrate on the task at hand, i.e., defeating the Brazilian to become the new UFC flyweight champion. “Ah mate, like soak it up, you know what I mean?… You already know what to expect, it’s like ‘Ah cool,’ just use that. Got bigger things to worry about than people booing. Who cares, you know what I mean?… You’ve got a job to do anyway, that’s all you focus on,” ‘Alexander the Great’ added.
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And Erceg, who has only fought three times in the promotion, will need all the advice he could get. Along with his inexperience, Erceg is also ranked #10 in the division, which has raised questions about why he is getting the title shot over the other top flyweight contenders. And the credit for that goes to the Brazilian champion himself.
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Pantoja wanted to fight a ‘fresh face’
Alexandre Pantoja won the flyweight title off of Brandon Moreno in a tough fight last year. While he has defended the title only once (against Brandon Royval in December), he has previously fought and defeated most of the top contenders in the 125-pound division.
Having faced most of the top contenders in the flyweight division (except perhaps, for Muhammad Mokaev), the champion was looking for a “fresh” face for his second title defense. And after Erceg’s spectacular UFC 295 knockout of Matt Schnell, ‘The Cannibal’ decided to give the #10 ranked flyweight a shot at the title in only his fourth UFC fight.
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“He’s [Erceg’s] a very tough opponent. I believe that, at this moment, he is more difficult than [Brandon] Royval, than [Brandon] Moreno, because he is a guy who comes from behind, with nothing to lose. He is #10 in the ranking, he comes fresh in the weight class… The only thing against it is that I think I have more experience of fighting. I believe this will be used by me in the octagon,” Pantoja said in an interview.
What are your predictions for UC 301? Let us know in the comments below.
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