Steve Erceg talks about losing title fight against Alexander Pantoja at UFC 301: 'I blew it'

Steve Erceg believes he missed his chance to become the UFC flyweight champion on Saturday at UFC 301.

Erceg fought Alexander Pantoja in the pay-per-view main event in just his fourth UFC fight. It was an incredible achievement for Erceg to even fight for the belt, but he was unable to beat Pantoja and believes he missed his chance.

“I really thought that if I could knock him down, I would eat up his time on the ground and make him even more tired,” Steve Erceg told FULL SEND MMA after UFC 301 (via MMAJunkie). “So I would probably do the same thing. Next time I just need to do better. I thought it might have been 2-2 or 3-1 in his favor. I knew it was close to third. I knew I was in fourth place. I fought to win the last round to put myself in a position to give myself a chance. I ruined everything.”

Erceg scored a late takedown in the fifth round and Pantoja ended up struggling to come out on top and was knocked out of the round in what could have been the deciding factor. Since Erceg left Brazil without the belt, he says he is devastated by his decision but vows to return.

“I’m obviously devastated,” Erceg said. “Despite the short time or three fights in the UFC, I came to win. I thought I could do it. I thought I was overdoing it, but he outplayed me. He did better and I'll be back.”

Alexander Pantoja praises Steve Erceg

After UFC 301, Alexander Pantoja praised Steve Erceg for how tough he is.

Pantoja won a unanimous decision, defeating Steve Erceg to defend his flyweight title for the second time. After the victory, the Brazilian had nothing but kind words to say to Erceg, but believes that he clearly won the fight.

“I think I obviously won the first three rounds of the fight,” Pantoja said through a translator during the UFC 301 post-fight press scrum (via MMAFighting). “The fourth round could have been his. The fifth round was mine, so I definitely think it was 4-1. The guy was very tough. This was what we said. This is a guy from Australia, very cool, who people didn't really know about, and he came there to die. He was ready to die, and I think that's what fighting for the championship is all about.”

With his win at UFC 301, Pantoja improved his professional record to 28-5. As for what's next for him, he's not sure, but Pantoja knows he'll likely see him again in the future.

“I really want to see him against a top-five guy in this division,” Pantoja said of Steve Erceg. “I want to see how he copes. I think he'll get a lot of spots in this division, but I'm not thinking about that right now. I don't want to think about the gym or fighting, I want to think about the beach. … Maybe tomorrow everything will change, but for now that’s it.”