First Things First

UFC 301 just underpromised and overdelivered. Jose Aldo returned victoriously, we saw one of the wildest submissions in UFC history, and Alexandre Pantoja fought with Steve Erceg in an instant classic. We’re going to take a closer look at that last fight here today.

Alexandre Pantoja

There’s an old combat sports cliche that says, “Defending the title is harder than winning it.” The UFC’s flyweight division has been proof of that for the past six years.

Flyweight has been in chaos since the inaugural champion, Demetrious Johnson, left the promotion. Three men have passed the belt between them, and none have defended more than one time in a row. This Saturday Pantoja broke away from the pack by walking through fire to take out the unheralded upstart challenger Steve Erceg for his second consecutive title defense.

Erceg is a big flyweight that boxes surprisingly well. He doesn’t necessarily have the best head movement, but his footwork and straight punching is miles ahead of his peers. That gave him two bonuses in three UFC fights leading up to this contest with Pantoja.

Erceg was again trying to again play matador. Pantoja, “The Cannibal” was happy crash into him like a bull and throw him to the floor to smother him. For 25 minutes this clash yielded fantastic action.

Takedowns And Chain Wrestling

Pantoja is one of the best grapplers in the UFC. He dominates people with top pressure and has a unique talent for getting to back mount. He doesn’t have the best traditional wrestling though.

In Pantoja’s previous fights, he’s used wild shots to get the fight to the floor. This fight showed him shooting for body locks and throwing Erceg to the mat instead of shooting low and getting stuffed.

Erceg was working to get up game the whole night. He was game, but Pantoja kept the pressure up and used strikes in transition to beat Erceg up for his troubles.

When they weren’t grappling, Erceg was piecing Pantoja up.

Intercepting Strikes

Midway through the third round came the most noticeable strike of the fight. Erceg split Pantoja with a hellacious elbow.

This strike changed the tenor of the fight. Pantoja kept touching the cut like he does above and noticeably slowed in the fourth round. Erceg used that inactivity as an opportunity to punish Pantoja later that round.

My favorite part of the fight was how well the two scrambled on the floor.

Standing Up To Smothering Control

Pantoja won largely by aggression but Erceg more than made him work for it. Every time Erceg hit the floor he was digging under hooks, kicking Pantoja away, and turning to turtle to get back to his feet.

Even when Pantoja did get to a more dominant position, Erceg found clever ways to fight back to his feet.

Pantoja does an excellent job pinning fighters in half guard. Erceg responded with a nifty knee lever sweep. You’ll also hear this called a giggler or John Wayne sweep. Pay attention to Erceg’s left leg and Pantoja’s under hook on the same side.

Ultimately this was Erceg fighting back from Pantoja’s offense. He was still a step behind in the action and on the scorecards.

The defining sequence of the fight came in the fifth round. The fight was on the line with both men having claimed two rounds. Whoever took the final would win the fight.

What was a technical battle became a loss born of a lapse in strategy.

Pantoja used this final bit of dominant control to keep his championship, but it was Erceg who started the sequence. The challenger threw the fight away.

There’s a good lesson in here about what makes a champion. Yes, they have to be tough and technical, but champions are defined by their decision making. They do the right thing at the right time, and not much else. This isn’t some magic inborn quality either. It’s a feature that comes from experience. Making the correct choices for years on end until your quality choices are simply instincts.

Erceg is relatively inexperienced in the UFC. He doesn’t have championship choice making yet. Unfortunately this one bad choice may have permanently impaired Erceg’s career.

UFC champions generally get bonuses that afford them a cut of pay-per-view revenue. By shooting for an ill advised takedown, Erceg wrote himself out of a contractual bonus that could yield hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars.

If Erceg uses this painful lesson to learn to stick to what makes him great when it matters, he can only be a winner after this. If he comes back looking like another all to willing action fighter, then he might have lost more than just a fight this weekend.

Submission Of The Century?

Michel Pereira is one of MMA’s best weird fighters. He dances during walkouts, regularly does flips and cartwheels, and he hits like a goddamn truck. At UFC 301, he gave us maybe his most acrobatic win ever.

Some are calling this sequence illegal due to Pereira chinning Potieria with his shin during the backflip. Others counter that it was incidental during the flip itself and is not a foul.

I’m not here to litigate the legality of this. I don’t care really care. This is one of the most insane sequences you’ll ever see in combat sports.

This week the UFC is bringing an action-oriented card to St. Louis. Knockout stars like Derrick Lewis, Joaquin Buckley, and Robelis Despaigne are all front and center, but there are also interesting grapplers like Diego Ferreira and Chase Hooper on the card. Plus there are some other weird and interesting matches like Sean Woodson and Alex Caceres. Before the UFC goes to St. Louis, WNO is back with Nicholas Meregali headlining as well.

We’ll be here to breakdown the most interesting action from those cards next week.

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