Steve Erceg halts losing streak at UFC to get back on track
Erceg returned to winning ways against Ode Osbourne after he had lost three fights on the trot at the UFC.
New Delhi: For Steve Erceg, the road back to victory was uncertain and full of detours. On Sunday, however, the Australian bantamweight finally found his way again, earning a hard-fought unanimous decision win over Ode Osbourne in the co-main event at Las Vegas, registering his first win in over a year.
The fight didn’t start the way Erceg had hoped for. Barely halfway through the opening round, Osbourne cracked him with a right hand that sent him to the canvas. But the Perth native wasn’t about to let another fight slip away.
“I think I manage distance well,” Erceg told HT in an interview facilitated by Sony Sports before the fight. “If I can implement some grappling early, even if it’s not to take him down, just to make him work and carry my weight, the fight will tilt in my favour.”
And that’s exactly what he did. Erceg dug deep into his grappling arsenal, slowing Osbourne’s pace, pressing him against the cage and dragging the fight to his favour. After three tense rounds, the judges’ scorecards read 29-28 across the board. The relief was visible as Erceg’s hand was raised. His contract hung in the balance, after all. He had lost three fights on the trot before this – to Alexandre Pantoja, Kai Kara-France and Brandon Moreno.
“There’s pressure, and yeah, I’m trying to keep my contract essentially. So that’s gonna come with a lot of pressure, but if I try to focus on it too much, it can only be detrimental,” Erceg added. “So my idea is to focus on what I can control, which is my performance. And if everything goes well and I perform well, the results should take care of itself.”
Originally slated to face Alex Perez, Erceg saw his opponent withdraw due to injury. Then came Park Hyun-sung, who was pulled last-minute to headline another card. Osbourne was the third name in line.
“I’m so used to opponent changes and cancellations that it’s not even a surprise anymore,” Erceg said with a laugh. “The hardest part is the time in between because all I want to do is eat! So, if they tell me the fight’s off, I’m going straight to eat some takeaway and fast food.”
Despite the changes he had to incorporate due to opponent changes, his training never drifted far from its structure. “I’ll change some things, but it’s mostly my approach to a round. Wrestling, sparring, boxing – I keep all of it in,” he explained. “I might focus on more takedowns or throw more kicks, but the foundation is the same.”
Erceg’s journey to the octagon began in an unexpected but rather predictable way for a fighter. “Brock Lesnar got me into it,” he said. “Not because I was a massive fan of him, but I was a big WWE fan, and when he went to the UFC, he made me watch it.” His real MMA hero, though, was Georges St-Pierre. “GSP was probably my favourite fighter for a long time.”
At Wilkes Martial Arts in Perth, under head coach David Wilkes, Erceg sometimes trains up to four times a day. Mornings can range from strength and conditioning followed by MMA drills while afternoons are for jiu-jitsu and the evenings for sparring. “I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life,” he said before the fight. “Mentally, I’m in a good spot, and I think I’ve taken my skills to another level during this camp.”
With the losing streak finally snapped, Erceg’s goals are clear. “There’s so many guys at the top I’d like to fight — Brandon Royval, Tatsuro Taira, Amir Albazi, obviously Alexandre Pantoja.”
“Anybody that thinks they’re tough, I want that guy.”
