Steve Erceg explains why he preferred to not fight Kai Kara-France, expects to “put one on his chin” at UFC 305

Steve Erceg had UFC 305 circled as his next fight before he had even fought Alexandre Pantoja for the flyweight title back in May.

Erceg is coming off a very close decision loss to Pantoja for the flyweight title. After the fight, Erceg made it clear he wanted a quick turnaround to fight at home in Perth, Australia and he got his wish.

“Obviously I would have preferred to be on this card with a belt, but it didn’t go that way. I wanted to be on this card no matter what, I wanted to fight in Perth, fight in front of my home crowd in front of my friends and family. Happy I got my wish,” Erceg said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com.

When Erceg does make the walk to the Octagon at UFC 305, he will be fighting Kai Kara-France. Although it is someone ranked higher than him, Erceg admits he would’ve preferred to fight someone else.

“I’m excited to fight a good guy but I would have preferred it to not be someone from this region. He is somebody I looked up to for a while, when I was an amateur, he was a pro he was at the top of the Australian-New Zealand fight scene. I would have liked to avoid him if I could, but it got offered and I’m not going to turn anyone down. We will find out who the better guy is,” Erceg said.

Although Steve Erceg would have preferred to fight someone other than Kai Kara-France at UFC 305, he still is eager for the matchup. Erceg enters the bout as a -180 favorite on FanDuel and believes that is just as he feel he has more tools to win the fight.

“I think I match up well. He is a good striker; he sets up his power strikes well and has good takedown defense. I think I have more weapons and am dangerous in more areas. Over the course of the fight, I will show that and will come away from the victory… I think we are both going to try to kill each other, and I will put one on his chin,” Erceg said.

If Erceg does get the KO win at UFC 305, he believes he will be one win away from getting another title shot.

“I think I will be put into the top-five and I think at least one more after this fight will get me back to a title shot. I think it’s likely the winner of Tatsuro Taira vs. Brandon Royval will get a title shot,” Erceg concluded.