Steve Erceg Takes Issue with Alexandre Pantoja’s Comments After UFC 301

While Steve Erceg found Alexandre Pantoja to be respectful leading up to their UFC 301 fight, he didn’t like the champ’s post-fight demeanor.

Erceg earned the opportunity of a lifetime, jumping several spots in the rankings for a title shot against Pantoja at UFC 301 in Brazil on May 4. While Pantoja retained his flyweight strap with a unanimous decision win, Erceg showed that he can hang with the best by giving the champ a real run for his money.

While Erceg had nothing but respect for Pantoja leading up to the fight, the Australian has now developed mixed feelings due to some post-fight comments “The Cannibal” made. During an appearance on the "Show Me the Money" podcast , Pantoja said that Erceg hits like a girl. Taking issue with Pantoja’s comments, Erceg notes that the Brazilian certainly didn’t look like he had been hit by a girl after their fight.

“He’s a nice guy, obviously to his family. I liked the way he carried himself,” Erceg told Main Event . “He was nice to me but then afterwards he said some stuff about, oh I hit like a girl and all that sort of stuff. If you want to say that sort of stuff to me, you don’t need to be respectful to me and then talk trash outside of that. So, I don’t know how to feel about it. I want to obviously still punch him in the face. Like if I hit like a girl, I don’t know what girls you’ve been around but your face was bloodied up and cut up after the fight.”

Erceg has always maintained that he believes he can beat Pantoja and blew his chance at UFC 301. “Astro Boy” reiterated his stance, claiming he needs a couple of years to beat Pantoja, who he believes is “deficient” in several aspects.

“Give me a year, give me two years,” Erceg said. “There are a few little things I need to fix, and I really feel I can smoke this guy. I hate the fact that that guy beat me. He’s like so deficient in so many areas, and he’s a champ. People talk about how the flyweight division is the most technical in the UFC and to have some guy that strikes like that, bothers me greatly.”