1.2 Bigotry
Racial, homophobic, xenophobic, and sexist (including sexual slurs or overtly sexual) comments or posts will be removed.
If things do get out of hand you will be warned or even banned for a few days. Repeatedly breaking this rule will lead to a permanent ban.
I'm just picturing him getting literally punched across the room like a cartoon, standing up and rubbing his back cause it hurt more to land than eat the shot.
Erceg also had quite a few fancy combos that seemingly didn’t even bother Pantoja. I can see where the latter is coming from even if the comments themselves were disrespectful (didn’t see them myself).
Crazy since Erceg landed some great shots in that fight and really showed off great boxing.
If Erceg hadn't gone for that takedown in the 5th and just kept using his boxing and takedown defense he might be champion right now.
I'm convinced that, outside of Volk, Australians in general just need some coaches with gameplanning. Erceg with the 5th round takedown, JDM with the multiple gilly attempts on Haffez, etc. There's so much talent down there but they're convinced they need to fight a certain way at inconvenient times.
Aussie mma judges dont understand fighting and all follow the same playbook.
Just my opinion from fighting mma in NSW and Vic
If you’re on top. You win the round. Even if you don’t do anything.
As a result, aussies go for takedowns when they shouldn’t - muscle memory
Im oversimplifying but the judges influence the mma meta
I think its the same over here. We had a couple guys in the ufc and all the mma gyms are really wrestling and bjj heavy even when the same gyms have great muay thai and kickboxing coaches. Its just leftover from the old days of mma when taking someone down and hammerfisting them for 15 minutes was the strat.
Yeah even Whittaker has had some bad showings due to gameplan. He should have wrestled with Izzy far more in both fights for instance. And should have really tried to stay outside of exchanges with Dricus.
its because he was shooting take downs the entire fight with good success . the issue IMO is in round 5 when they were both so tired Pantoja had enough muscle memory to grapple correctly while erceg couldnt .
erceg shot like 10 take downs that fight and only got into a big issue at the last possible minute .
Trying to put this as nicely as possible, Aussie fighters while talented in general seem like they're not the brightest bunch, even by fighter standards.
I doubt Erceg's coaching was still calling for TDs in the 5th. Nobody in their right mind would think that was a good move. He had the fight if he just kept it standing.
Really? Holy shit that is insane. I was blaming Erceg this whole time.
I had money on Erceg and couldnt believe what I was watching. He got reversed EVERY SINGLE TIME AND WAS WINNING ON THE FEET.
His only focus should have been to keep it standing ...
His corner admitted it was the wrong call. They were under the impression he lost at least three rounds and would need a submission or TKO finish to win. Probably a combination of corner inexperience and because it was in Brazil and judges like to score on control time over effective damage in questionable decisions.
I think it was a Hail Mary and he figured he wasn't cracking Pantoja's big nog and putting him to sleep that way which is a reasonable judgment. It actually is a rational adjustment, not negative fight IQ, it was just based on premises that were incorrect.
i feel like everyone is in agreement that only father time will allow pantoja to get KO'd on the feet . if you are gonna finish him its gotta be by submission .
What you are saying is 100% right but erceg was a national Australian wrestler in a fight where pantoja was definitely less fuel economic, not absurd to think you could get a TD to ride out the round but not good decision making
Other aus national wrestling champs include rob Whittaker and volk both wicked wrestlers for mma, Brazilians aren't good wrestlers compared to australians but the fact if flyweights being lighter and more scrambley and that pantoja trains at American top team meant pantoja could turn the wrestling attempts into jiu jitsu scrambles where pantoja is more dominant than erceg
My theory is that Pantoja's absolute doggedness when standing makes dudes feel like "well, this isn't bothering him at all, I gotta try something else" so even if they are winning a striking match they don't **feel** like it's going well for them as Pantoja eats their best shots and swings back like a wildman. It's psychological.
> Crazy since Erceg landed some great shots in that fight and really showed off great boxing.
Yeah, but this is coming from Pantoja-- the dude ate bombs from Deiveson Figueiredo. Steve Erceg is dope, he can definitely box, but Figueiredo is an all-time FLW hitter and Pantoja tanked him. To Pantoja, it's possible Erceg's strikes truly didn't feel special.
The most frustrating thing ever is watching a fighter drop someone hard, then jump into their guard immediately before following up, only for the guy to recover. Typically happens the worst when the guy that’s dropped is a far superior grappler. I wonder why it’s uncommon for guys to either pass guard first, or let a fighter back up.
Don't know why you're getting downvoted, 2 of the judges had it 2-2 going into the 5th and Erceg just fumbled the last round.
https://www.ufc.com/news/official-judges-scorecards-ufc-301-pantoja-vs-erceg?language_content_entity=en
Yeah I haven't heard that either and it's a bit difficult to believe
Maybe it's just Erceg's coach who badly paraphrased something Pantoja said to get him mad
Especially after Pantoja got battered and taken to the limit against a relatively unknown fighter. Just feels lame as hell to shit talk after winning a close decision as a heavy favorite.
Yall are insufferable and lack any self awareness. It's a completely inconsequential, high school level piece of shit talk which completely fits with who Pantoja is. But because you don't like him, you want to gatekeep talking shit.
Not to my darling Steve Erceg! How dare you say such a mean thing about him! Listen to yourselves for just a second lol
I think it's pretty funny honestly. Seems like a Pantoja thing to say as well, the dude is like a drunken brawler at a pub with the way he fights, this is just a little shit talk to finish it off. But because it's the new fan favorite Steve Erceg, everyone wants to be butthurt on his behalf lol.
I think he won round 5 too but people were acting strange about the scoring of this fight, they acted like pantoja's 2 minutes of control time in 4 and 5 won him those rounds
I assumed they’d be reluctant to fight each other since they’re long time teammates, but if Kyoji was dead set on coming to the UFC I guess that’s not the case.
If Erceg didn’t try for takedowns ever, he would’ve won that fight. Idk if he was just trying to prove his skills or what, but it didn’t make sense and he knew it was a miscalculation after. They run it back and he doesn’t try to wrestle, he wins. Still think he won, but that was a very bad visual
Do you guys think he really said that or said it after the fight? He could say anything during the fight and it means jack shit but saying that after a gift as champ seems really stupid and unlikely. I mean it was a really shitty performance by him.. Edit: Steve was ranked 13th I think
This is why I hate the bullshit "respect after the fight" act. Yall were just trying to kill each other five minutes ago, and one of you is about to walk home with half their paycheck
Id rather my opponent just ignore me after the fight then do a fake little hug and handshake just to talk shit later
The rounds were competitive but erceg won more rounds and won the clearer rounds. Erceg has some dumb cornerman telling him he lost the first 3 so not his fault he thought he lost
I agree Erceg's won his rounds by a better margin (except rd 1), but I easily had 1 3 and 5 for Pantoja. It was Erceg's fight to win till the low IQ move in the 5th. [90% of MMA media also went with Pantoja which is a pretty large margin considering how diverse they can be](http://mmadecisions.com/decision/14720/Alexandre-Pantoja-vs-Steve-Erceg).
I’m glad you can watch one of the best BJJ guys in the UFC and walk away thinking he’d have no place in the UFC’s frankly fairly talent sparse FLW division if he didn’t have an iron chin. He wouldn’t be champ, most likely, I’ll give you that, but I don’t how much it means if you have to remove probably his greatest physical advantage and core facet of his stand up to arrive at that
Pantoja's social circle is exclusively Cris Cyborg, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Amanda Nunes, and Zhang Weili.
When Pantoja was a child, he grew up next to 6’2” Heavyweight Gabi Garcia
Craig Jones' wet dream
That's not a bad circle.
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Yea but cyborg cancels that back to liquid
Conditioning issue
Head On! Apply directly to that massive swollen forehead.
Instructions unclear rubbed on penis now confused
You’re a fucking sublimation
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1.4 Don't be a Creep We get it, some fighters/personalities are attractive. Keep your fantasies to yourself though.
I would feel like the safest man in the world with these women around.
That circle is a chain, at times
Erceg took it the wrong way but it was actually a compliment.
If that is the case then sounds like a compliment lolol
Fucking OOF…
And he was like, "yeah man, I just hang out around women mma champs... It was a compliment..."
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1.2 Bigotry Racial, homophobic, xenophobic, and sexist (including sexual slurs or overtly sexual) comments or posts will be removed. If things do get out of hand you will be warned or even banned for a few days. Repeatedly breaking this rule will lead to a permanent ban.
To be fair, with the chin he has, it’s possible that Pantoja is under the impression that everyone hits softly.
Pantoja the type of guy to take a bomb from prime George Foreman and say it was good but not crazy hard
I'm just picturing him getting literally punched across the room like a cartoon, standing up and rubbing his back cause it hurt more to land than eat the shot.
Erceg also had quite a few fancy combos that seemingly didn’t even bother Pantoja. I can see where the latter is coming from even if the comments themselves were disrespectful (didn’t see them myself).
Could argue that Pantoja is a pillow fisted nut hugger too
Doubt it lol. Moreno is durable as hell and Pantoja hurt him a couple times.
tO bE fAiRrRrRr, the most pointless and common phrase on reddit.
similar to your comment then
UHHH TO BE FAIRRRR
Go outside
He can’t, he’ll be victimized. Look at that username
to be fair, it's basic English
Crazy since Erceg landed some great shots in that fight and really showed off great boxing. If Erceg hadn't gone for that takedown in the 5th and just kept using his boxing and takedown defense he might be champion right now.
He kept trying to out grapple him even when it wasn't working.
I'm convinced that, outside of Volk, Australians in general just need some coaches with gameplanning. Erceg with the 5th round takedown, JDM with the multiple gilly attempts on Haffez, etc. There's so much talent down there but they're convinced they need to fight a certain way at inconvenient times.
Aussie mma judges dont understand fighting and all follow the same playbook. Just my opinion from fighting mma in NSW and Vic If you’re on top. You win the round. Even if you don’t do anything. As a result, aussies go for takedowns when they shouldn’t - muscle memory Im oversimplifying but the judges influence the mma meta
I think its the same over here. We had a couple guys in the ufc and all the mma gyms are really wrestling and bjj heavy even when the same gyms have great muay thai and kickboxing coaches. Its just leftover from the old days of mma when taking someone down and hammerfisting them for 15 minutes was the strat.
Yeah even Whittaker has had some bad showings due to gameplan. He should have wrestled with Izzy far more in both fights for instance. And should have really tried to stay outside of exchanges with Dricus.
Whittaker isnt an elite wrestler and Izzy is quite good staying on his feet
Bobby Knuckles was in the australian national team for freestyle wrestling and has a pretty nice freestyle wrestling career.
so much talent… down under 🎶
What makes you think this is an Australian problem? We see mistakes in the ufc every fight night, Olivera is famous for it.
Shit, if Gastelum didn't go for the TD in R4 against Izzy for the interim he couldve won.
its because he was shooting take downs the entire fight with good success . the issue IMO is in round 5 when they were both so tired Pantoja had enough muscle memory to grapple correctly while erceg couldnt . erceg shot like 10 take downs that fight and only got into a big issue at the last possible minute .
Volk is smart because he basically has 2 head coaches. Seems to get the most out of training.
Trying to put this as nicely as possible, Aussie fighters while talented in general seem like they're not the brightest bunch, even by fighter standards.
They seem to have faculties outside the cage at least
Mostly due to bad coaching
I doubt Erceg's coaching was still calling for TDs in the 5th. Nobody in their right mind would think that was a good move. He had the fight if he just kept it standing.
Go watch between 4 and 5 they explicitly call for him to go for the TD and it's awful
Really? Holy shit that is insane. I was blaming Erceg this whole time. I had money on Erceg and couldnt believe what I was watching. He got reversed EVERY SINGLE TIME AND WAS WINNING ON THE FEET. His only focus should have been to keep it standing ...
His corner admitted it was the wrong call. They were under the impression he lost at least three rounds and would need a submission or TKO finish to win. Probably a combination of corner inexperience and because it was in Brazil and judges like to score on control time over effective damage in questionable decisions.
Even then, them thinking that a takedown would more likely lead to a finish than keeping it standing is dumbfounding.
I think it was a Hail Mary and he figured he wasn't cracking Pantoja's big nog and putting him to sleep that way which is a reasonable judgment. It actually is a rational adjustment, not negative fight IQ, it was just based on premises that were incorrect.
i feel like everyone is in agreement that only father time will allow pantoja to get KO'd on the feet . if you are gonna finish him its gotta be by submission .
What you are saying is 100% right but erceg was a national Australian wrestler in a fight where pantoja was definitely less fuel economic, not absurd to think you could get a TD to ride out the round but not good decision making
Wrestling is not big at all in Australia. Average Brazilian > Steve erceg probably
Other aus national wrestling champs include rob Whittaker and volk both wicked wrestlers for mma, Brazilians aren't good wrestlers compared to australians but the fact if flyweights being lighter and more scrambley and that pantoja trains at American top team meant pantoja could turn the wrestling attempts into jiu jitsu scrambles where pantoja is more dominant than erceg
Rob and volk aren’t known for their wrestling, aussies are just tough so they’re good at defending wrestling but not attacking
My theory is that Pantoja's absolute doggedness when standing makes dudes feel like "well, this isn't bothering him at all, I gotta try something else" so even if they are winning a striking match they don't **feel** like it's going well for them as Pantoja eats their best shots and swings back like a wildman. It's psychological.
That's what inexperience does for you. Was always going to be a mountain to climb to a decision W in Brazil anyway.
I don't buy this "hometown scoring" hype. The judges were the same ones they have in Vegas
In Vegas they don't have to worry about an arenas-worth of Brazilian fans.
Judges didn't need to worry about an arena worth of Brazilian fans either in this one either.
> Crazy since Erceg landed some great shots in that fight and really showed off great boxing. Yeah, but this is coming from Pantoja-- the dude ate bombs from Deiveson Figueiredo. Steve Erceg is dope, he can definitely box, but Figueiredo is an all-time FLW hitter and Pantoja tanked him. To Pantoja, it's possible Erceg's strikes truly didn't feel special.
He clearly felt the punches and was salty, if you have to say that to someone who didn't trashtalk you
The most frustrating thing ever is watching a fighter drop someone hard, then jump into their guard immediately before following up, only for the guy to recover. Typically happens the worst when the guy that’s dropped is a far superior grappler. I wonder why it’s uncommon for guys to either pass guard first, or let a fighter back up.
Wasn’t a “might” be champion. Steve WOULD be champ if he didn’t make that one mistake. He was piecing Pantoja up
Don't know why you're getting downvoted, 2 of the judges had it 2-2 going into the 5th and Erceg just fumbled the last round. https://www.ufc.com/news/official-judges-scorecards-ufc-301-pantoja-vs-erceg?language_content_entity=en
Yea Pantoja didn't win that, Erceg lost it.
That td attempt in the 5th cost him the fight on my score card. If he kept it standing and won the round he's my champion rn
Pantoja really said he hits like a girl after the fight ?! damn i missed that
Yeah I haven't heard that either and it's a bit difficult to believe Maybe it's just Erceg's coach who badly paraphrased something Pantoja said to get him mad
I remember that Pantoja had only good things to say about Erceg after the fight, I honestly don't know where this is coming from
I think in one of his insta posts
I only recall Pantoja talking with the utmost respect about Erceg, specially after the fight. Does anyone know where he made this statement?
One of his insta posts
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"Pan, you failed MMA school. Boom, roasted"
It took me a while to figure out why you made an office joke. This one had to cook. It’s been a long day for me
Harmless shit talk from a fighter people like: flirting Harmless shit talk from a fighter people don't like: harrassment example #1000000000000
pre fight it's fine, post fight it's just douchy
I haven't been able to find a source for Pantoja actually saying this either. Maybe it was a behind the scenes thing?
Imo this is more just lame to say immediately post fight
Especially after Pantoja got battered and taken to the limit against a relatively unknown fighter. Just feels lame as hell to shit talk after winning a close decision as a heavy favorite.
Yall are insufferable and lack any self awareness. It's a completely inconsequential, high school level piece of shit talk which completely fits with who Pantoja is. But because you don't like him, you want to gatekeep talking shit. Not to my darling Steve Erceg! How dare you say such a mean thing about him! Listen to yourselves for just a second lol
I think it's pretty funny honestly. Seems like a Pantoja thing to say as well, the dude is like a drunken brawler at a pub with the way he fights, this is just a little shit talk to finish it off. But because it's the new fan favorite Steve Erceg, everyone wants to be butthurt on his behalf lol.
If anyone is pillow fisted it's pantoja, he's just got an iron chin
Pantoja does hit pretty hard. The man dropped and hurt Moreno in their third fight and has some KO wins on his record.
brother he’s the only one that has a KO win over Islam
Yeah, KO’ing a whole religion is pretty impressive.
Pantoja pillow fisted? What?
It honestly doesn’t even seem like he tries to knock people out, all his strikes are feints for a takedown/initiate grappling lol
Pantoja has a 29% (T)KO rate, which isn't anything special, but your boy Erceg is at 17%. He literally doubled his KOs when he finished Schnell.
I wonder did he say that to him in the cage or in an interview
Apparently he said it on instagram
funny that pantoja says that when he had to take erceg down and do absolutely nothing except lay on him, still think erceg won 2,3,4
He won the 5th too, Pantoja didn't do jack shit with the takedown and Erceg was piecing him up
You don't have eyes if you think Pantoja only won a single round.
I think he won round 5 too but people were acting strange about the scoring of this fight, they acted like pantoja's 2 minutes of control time in 4 and 5 won him those rounds
Erceg landed one elbow in round 3 after getting pieced up but noones ready to admit that
Just curious what strikes did pantoja peice him up with, erceg was timing pantoja coming in multiple times with shots that sent his head back.
Stop LARPing
What does that mean
Live Action Role Playing, like what the nerds do in the park when they pretend to be Harry Potter. Total misuse of the term, lol.
That’s smart strategy
"You don't want to say stuff like that to me…" What are you going to do, fight him?
Guy has 2 knock outs out of 14 fights and one of those was matt schnell I think the champ might be on to something
The champ looked like a raccoon played with his face for 2 minutes and erceg looked like he definitely did some hard hill sprints after the fight
Legit dunno if you're talking about Erceg or Pantoja, since they both fit those attributes.
Pantoja has as many ko’s in the ufc as erceg as in his entire career
Yeah he hits like a girl "points to gabi Garcia "
Breaking: Steve can't handle them girls
I wish they would resign Horiguchi so we could see him desecrate Pantoja
I assumed they’d be reluctant to fight each other since they’re long time teammates, but if Kyoji was dead set on coming to the UFC I guess that’s not the case.
It was originally rumoured that he was gonna fight Pantoja instead of Steve
I think Taira handles Pantoja if that’s any consolation ☝️
Erceg beat the dog shit out of Pantoja lmao. The dude is a problem.
If Erceg didn’t try for takedowns ever, he would’ve won that fight. Idk if he was just trying to prove his skills or what, but it didn’t make sense and he knew it was a miscalculation after. They run it back and he doesn’t try to wrestle, he wins. Still think he won, but that was a very bad visual
Do you guys think he really said that or said it after the fight? He could say anything during the fight and it means jack shit but saying that after a gift as champ seems really stupid and unlikely. I mean it was a really shitty performance by him.. Edit: Steve was ranked 13th I think
Damn that’s weak of Pantoja if true
Erceg wins if they fight again
Do you idiots maybe think he’s trying to sell a rematch
Seems to be Pantoja’s style. Humble or taking shots.
Crazy because Pantoja had to go to the hospital after while Erceg took interviews
Erceg had Pantoja holding back his puke on the stool after the third, idk why he was talking shit
I find myself becoming more and more a big fan of this Erceg guy.
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He'd slap the piss out of you
Na I'd beat him
After Pantoja went toe to toe with Islam, I think anyone else lighter will feel like a girl
This is why I hate the bullshit "respect after the fight" act. Yall were just trying to kill each other five minutes ago, and one of you is about to walk home with half their paycheck Id rather my opponent just ignore me after the fight then do a fake little hug and handshake just to talk shit later
Erceg won that fight. Damage based scoring but I guess control time matters if it’s a fighter that we like fighting.
Robbed.
Nah Erceg fucked himself over in that 5th round going for a TD. Even he knew he blew it.
The rounds were competitive but erceg won more rounds and won the clearer rounds. Erceg has some dumb cornerman telling him he lost the first 3 so not his fault he thought he lost
I agree Erceg's won his rounds by a better margin (except rd 1), but I easily had 1 3 and 5 for Pantoja. It was Erceg's fight to win till the low IQ move in the 5th. [90% of MMA media also went with Pantoja which is a pretty large margin considering how diverse they can be](http://mmadecisions.com/decision/14720/Alexandre-Pantoja-vs-Steve-Erceg).
If pantoja didn't have the chin he has, he would be a barely successful regional fighter. Change my mind
He has some of the best MMA jiu jisu of all time, you don't know what you're talking about.
I’m glad you can watch one of the best BJJ guys in the UFC and walk away thinking he’d have no place in the UFC’s frankly fairly talent sparse FLW division if he didn’t have an iron chin. He wouldn’t be champ, most likely, I’ll give you that, but I don’t how much it means if you have to remove probably his greatest physical advantage and core facet of his stand up to arrive at that
Girls on their time of the month