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Steve Erceg recently released his first statement following his first-round knockout defeat to Kai Kara-France in the co-main event of UFC 305. 'Astroboy' started the fight cautiously and kept his distance, but a devastating overhand left from Kara-France caught him off guard and sent him crashing to the canvas.
Although Erceg managed to survive the initial knockdown and get back to his feet, Kara-France relentlessly pressed forward, landing a crushing right hook that sent the Aussie back to the canvas. With less than a minute remaining in the first round, the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
After experiencing consecutive losses for the first time in his career, Erceg took to Instagram on Tuesday and reflected on his latest setback:
"Hey everyone, it's been a few days since I fought at UFC 305. I just want to say thank you to all my supporters and to everybody in Perth. It was great to hear you cheer as I walked out, and it was great to be a part of this experience. Live and learn; I'll be back."
Check out Steve Erceg's comments below:
'Astroboy' made his promotional debut a little over a year ago, securing a victory against David Dvorak at UFC 289 in June 2023. Following that win, he earned consecutive victories over Alessandro Costa and Matt Schnell.
However, Erceg's momentum was halted when he faced champion Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301 in May, where he fell short in his bid for the flyweight title.
Steve Erceg says he would have targeted Muhammad Mokaev if he had won at UFC 301
Although he put up a strong fight, Steve Erceg came up short against Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301. In a recent appearance on the MMArcade Podcast, 'Astroboy' disclosed that if he had beaten Pantoja, he would have called out Muhammad Mokaev for his first title defense, citing the undefeated Russian's popularity:
"If I had won the title, I was calling him [Mokaev] out because I think he's very popular, I think he's a good fighter, and I wanted to get one over on him, obviously. But yeah, that won't happen now unless he makes his way back."
Check out Steve Erceg's comments below (6:51):
Despite his unanimous decision victory over Manel Kape at UFC 304 last month in Manchester, Mokaev has been removed from the promotion after UFC CEO Dana White announced that the promotion would not be renewing his contract.
