"Most random fight ever" - Fans react as Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg is made official for UFC 301

Just 13 days after his last win over Matt Schnell, Steve Erceg has been announced as the next opponent of flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301.

The UFC announced the championship fight on March 15 for the May pay-per-view card that has already been confirmed to take place in Pantoja's native Brazil. Though just two months out from the event date, the matchup was not confirmed as the main event upon its announcement.

Reacting to the news release on social media, fans were not surprised to see Pantoja fighting on the card, but many appeared to be thrown off-guard with Erceg as the challenger. Debuting with the UFC in 2023, Erceg has gone 3-0 in the octagon, including a bonus-winning knockout of Schnell at UFC Vegas 87, but still is just No.10 in the divisional rankings.

One fan called the matchup "random," writing:

"Possibly the most random title fight ever"

Fan reacting to the Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg announcement [via @ufc on Instagram]

With many of the top contenders at flyweight either booked to fight or already have a history with Pantoja, many expected the next challenger to be 12-0 Muhammad Mokaev.

UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, a teammate of Mokaev, was among those pushing for the Russian, commenting:

"Should be @mokaev_muhammad"

Other comments read:

"This ain't it"

"No joke who the f is Erceg"

"Michael Scott doing side quests now?"

"Number 10 is comical I would rather see him fight O'Malley"

View more fan reactions to Alexandre Pantoja fighting Steve Erceg on UFC 301 below:

Fan reactions to the UFC 301 flyweight title fight announcement [via @ufc on Instagram]

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Alexandre Pantoja's UFC flyweight title reign leading into UFC 301

As an unfortunate victim of the four consecutive flyweight title fights between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno, Alexandre Pantoja had to wait a while to get his shot but delivered at UFC 290 to become the fifth different champion in divisional history.

Now on a five-fight win streak, Pantoja has not lost since losing a decision to Askar Askarov in 2020. Following the loss, Pantoja picked up victories over Manel Kape, Brandon Royval, and Alex Perez to earn a title shot against Moreno and would out-point 'The Assassin Baby' to claim gold.

In his only title defense to date, Pantoja rematched Royval in the co-main event of UFC 295 and won a convincing decision to keep his belt.