Sometimes all it takes is one mistake to change the course of a fight.
That's what UFC commentator Daniel Cormier thinks it ultimately came down to in the main event of UFC 301 as Alexandre Pantoja defended his title against game flyweight Steve Erceg. Taking on the #10 contender was no easy task for the champ Pantoja, who put it all on the line through five rounds.
The contest was neck and neck and the argument could be made for either fighter being up on the scorecards when it saw the distance, but all three judges cageside scored the fight for Pantoja, who retained the title by unanimous decision.
Cormier had the flyweights tied up heading into the final round and details why Erceg's piled up damage on Pantoja wasn't enough to secure the title.
"I thought it was two to two going into the fifth, and that proved to be true because the fifth round ultimately is what decided the fight," Cormier said on his YouTube channel. "Erceg landed a beautiful elbow in the third round, big damage. Pantoja had the takedowns and he had the top control, which allowed for him to win that round. They say the first judge of criteria is damage, but I don't know if that should be now called sustained damage, because clearly the damage was on the side of Erceg, but it wasn't sustained.
"It was him landing a big shot that opened up the champion, and the champion visibly reacted to it, but he somehow pivoted, went right back to work and did what he needed to do to keep his belt. [Pantoja's] impressive, man. He starts at a crazy high pace. You always expect him to slow down. You never expect him to be able to carry that pace and beat these guys because tonight he was in there with a guy that while many people didn't know him or didn't know the skills that he possessed, because he has only been here for like a year, he was in there with probably the most dangerous competitor he will face for a long time."
For a striking moment in round five, Erceg looked like he had a real chance at winning the flyweight title until he decided to shoot for a takedown on Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Pantoja, who reversed the attempt for an advantageous position on the ground.
"Erceg fought a good fight, but ultimately his decision-making in round five, it is what's gonna really bother him and make for some real long nights as he goes forward," Cormier went on. "Because those fifth round takedowns he didn't need, he just didn't. He was starting to have his way with the champ on the feet, but for some reason he decided to take him down, Pantoja outscrambled.
"Pantoja is a great grappler. You don't wanna spend the time with him down there... You don't wanna be grappling with Pantoja. Steve Erceg essentially costed himself a UFC title tonight with those decisions. Now, I don't know how that fifth round would've played out. Pantoja might have recovered and fought a great fifth round on the feet. He might have, but what we were watching didn't necessarily seem as though that would've been the case."
In the aftermath of UFC 301, Erceg acknowledges the level change is what took him away from UFC gold against Pantoja. The former title challenger looks back on the fifth round and what he might have done differently, if anything at all.
"I'm obviously devastated," Erceg told Full Send MMA. "Despite the short notice or like three fights in UFC, I came to win. I thought I could do it. I thought I was finishing over the top and he just outscrambled me. Just gotta get better and I'll be back.
"I thought it could have been [scored] 2-2 or 3-1 to him," Erceg said of the scoring in the lead-up to round 5. "I knew it was close in the third. I knew I won the fourth. I knew if I could win the last round, at least put myself in position that I give myself a chance and I just, yeah, I blew it."
"I really thought if I could take him down, I ate up some time on the ground and make him even more tired, and then I went on the feet more. So, I probably would've done exactly the same thing just next time it to be better at it," Erceg added.
At 28 years old, Steve Erceg still has a very bright future ahead of him, despite coming up short on the fast track to flyweight royalty.
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