Steve Erceg shares honest preview of upcoming Brandon Moreno clash at UFC Mexico City: "I'm not saying that I'm not going to shoot"

Steve Erceg has put forth his assessment of competing against former two-time UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno. Addressing their highly-anticipated UFC Mexico City showdown, Erceg outlined how things could play out inside the octagon.

Erceg is a former UFC flyweight title challenger, who's currently coming off a pair of defeats. It's the first time he's lost consecutive fights in his professional MMA career. As such, some believe that the Australian could possibly be under pressure heading into his next octagon outing. His most recent fight saw him suffer a first-round TKO defeat against Kai Kara-France in August 2024.

On the other hand, Mexico's Moreno is 1-2 in his past three fights. 'The Assassin Baby' is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Amir Albazi, whom he bested in November 2024.

During a recent interview with James Lynch on Bodog Canada, Steve Erceg was asked about how he sees the matchup unfolding. 'Astro Boy' responded by suggesting that he and Brandon Moreno would likely have striking-heavy contest:

"Again, I think it's mostly going to be on the feet. I'm not saying that I'm not going to shoot [for takedowns]. I'm not. I think that'd be a mistake. And I'm not saying that he won't shoot. I think we both scramble well enough to both look at the legs and look to take each other down if we're in a scramble. But for the most part, I think we are going to be punching each other."

Also, it appeared as though Steve Erceg either wasn't aware of Dan Hooker's hand injury withdrawal from his lightweight bout against Justin Gaethje, or the interview transpired before Hooker's withdrawal was reported. For context, Hooker was to co-headline UFC 313 on March 8, 2025. The Kiwi was later replaced by Rafael Fiziev, whose rematch with Gaethje would now co-headline UFC 313.

Many fans and experts expected Hooker's clash against Gaethje to be a barnburner. Erceg juxtaposed his fight against Moreno with Hooker's matchup against Gaethje and said:

"And yeah, if it can be 'Fight of the Year,' 'Fight of the Century,' whatever -- that'd be fantastic. But it's gonna be hard with Dan Hooker fighting Justin Gaethje very soon. So I don't know if we can live up to that fight."

Check out Steve Erceg's comments below:

Watch the interview below (*Steve Erceg's comments at 7:10):

---

Steve Erceg addresses significance of his UFC Mexico City fight against Brandon Moreno

Elsewhere during his conversation with James Lynch, Steve Erceg indicated that he was originally expected to fight Asu Almabayev. However, the UFC later booked Almabayev against Manel Kape to headline UFC Vegas 103, which goes down on March 1, 2025.

'Astro Boy' implied that facing a former UFC champion like Brandon Moreno, in a card's headliner in his home country, is a bigger and more exciting matchup. The Australian fighter said:

"I'm fighting a Mexican in Mexico. There's nothing more exciting than that. It's going to be a lot of boos for me, a lot of cheers for him. It's going to be a very big event." [*comments at the aforementioned interview's 0:47-minute mark]