Steve Erceg's recentt loss to Brandon Moreno at UFC Mexico City has caused the MMA Guru, one of the most polarizing figures in the MMA content creation world, to reevaluate the Australian as a fighter. While Erceg's technical striking was on full display, he also showed a distinct lack of urgency.
As the fight progressed, he started slipping and evading Moreno's strikes with greater ease, but rarely offered any counters as a form of deterence. This caused the MMA Guru to compare Erceg to another technical striker who is known for his inability to consistently sit down on his strikes: Cory Sandhagen, a bantamweight.
"It's official #UFCMexicoCity Steve Erceg is the Cory Sandhagen of flyweight. Cool your strikes look pretty and technically perfect. Now push forward and throw some heat already, you're f*cking losing. Journal about that you nerd (I love Erceg and I'm sad about this reality)"
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Both Erceg and Sandhagen have well-rounded skill-sets in terms of striking, but do not usually pursue the finish with any serious intent. That isn't to say that neither man ever finishes a fight, as Erceg's third UFC fight saw him completely flatten Matt Schnell with a second-round knockout.
Unfortunately, that was only the second time Erceg has ever stopped an opponent with strikes. Meanwhile, hasn't stopped anyone with strikes since a TKO due to a doctor stoppage three years ago in a bout against the heavy-handed Song Yadong.
Ironically, despite being known for his boxing, Erceg actually has more submission wins than he does knockouts or TKOs, having submitted six opponents.
Steve Erceg is currently on his worst career run
The rough patch Steve Erceg is on cannot be understated. After an 11-fight win streak, the Australian challenged Alexandre Pantoja for the UFC flyweight title at UFC 301. Despite getting the better of the Brazilian in the striking department, he made a fair amount of grappling mistakes, costing himself the win.
Check out Steve Erceg following his loss at UFC Mexico City:
After the unanimous decision loss to Pantoja, he was TKO'd in shorter at UFC 305 by Kai Kara-France, before suffering his third consecutive loss just yesterday against Brandon Moreno. With a three-fight losing streak, it is likely that the Australian will drop far down the rankings, if he stays in the promotion at all.