{"id":390895,"date":"2024-05-05T05:21:01","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T05:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=390895"},"modified":"2024-05-05T06:04:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T06:04:02","slug":"i-blew-it-aussie-underdog-falls-short-in-ufc-title-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=390895","title":{"rendered":"'I blew it': Aussie underdog falls short in UFC title fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Erceg<\/a> has fallen short in his bid to become a world champion – but the Australian underdog lost no admirers against Alexandre Pantoja in the main event of UFC<\/a> 301.<\/p>\n

\ufeffDespite being a massive outsider and ranked 10th in the division, Erceg walked into enemy territory in Brazil against Pantoja and went the distance in a tremendous bout.<\/p>\n

However, the champion did enough to retain the UFC gold, securing a unanimous decision with the three judges scoring 48-47, 48-47, 49-46\ufeff.<\/p>\n

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Erceg joined the UFC less than a year ago and has enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence in the 125-pound weight class, but his decision to start grappling in the championship round was an error that cost him dearly given Pantoja's ground game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"\ufeffHe is showing that he is elite," Daniel Cormier said on commentary.<\/p>\n

"He is ranked 10th in the world, but he is going up against the best fighter in the world and doing really well against Pantoja.<\/p>\n

"The kid fought a great fight and if he stayed standing, he might have won."\ufeff<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old will likely hold his spot towards the top of the rankings after lasting 25 minutes with Pantoja, who has been the king of the flyweights for a lengthy period. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Speaking post-fight, the Perth product known as 'Astro Boy' was emotional and conceded he may have wasted his opportunity to become a UFC title-holder.<\/p>\n

"I was surprised how well he can scramble, I usually beat guys there so it was a bit of a shock," Erceg said.<\/p>\n

"I thought the third was close enough – he got me down a couple of times and I beat him on the feet. I thought I could get the fifth round … I just blew it."\ufeff<\/p>\n

Just like in the original Rocky movie, the underdog went the distance but didn't have the class of the champion – but there's reason to believe Erceg and Pantoja will cross paths again and the Aussie will be well-placed to even the leger. \ufeff<\/p>\n

With the result, \ufeffAlexander Volkanovski<\/a> and Robert Whittaker<\/a> remain the only two Aussies to have won a title with MMA's leading organisation. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Erceg has fallen short in his bid to become a world champion – but the Australian underdog lost no admirers against Alexandre Pantoja in […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":390897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390895"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=390895"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":390900,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390895\/revisions\/390900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/390897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=390895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=390895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=390895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}