Steve Erceg Dismisses Narrative That He Has Nothing to Lose in UFC 301 Headliner

While some would argue that Steve Erceg won't have a lot of pressure on him going into his UFC 301 title fight just 11 months after his promotional debut, "Astroboy" couldn't disagree more.

While Erceg acknowledges that he might have been "at the right place, at the right time," in terms of him receiving a title shot just three fights into his UFC tenure, the Myaree, Australia, native isn’t taking the opportunity lightly and sees this as a moment that will serve as the pinnacle of his hard work and dedication to the sport of mixed martial arts.

Erceg, who hasn't lost a bout since his second professional outing in 2017, believes he has a lot of pressure on him going into the matchup and is aiming to walk away with the strap at the end of the night in Rio De Janeiro.

“Honestly, I believe there’s just as much as pressure on me as there is on Pantoja,” Erceg said during his media day appearance. “I know that, yeah, technically he’s the champion, he's the favorite and all that sort of stuff but I've been working for this dream my whole life, and this is the culmination of all my hard work. So, to lose here would be devastating for me, so I've got plenty of pressure on my shoulders and I’m confident in all the work I've done over the years. I've trained very hard for a very long time, missed holidays, missed birthdays, missed all sorts of different things to make this dream a reality. And that’s what I'm going to go out there and do.”