Steve Erceg Targets Brandon Moreno Fight, Brands His Mexico Performance ‘Uncharacteristically Sloppy’ (Exclusive)

During an exclusive interview with MMA News, Erceg looked ahead to his third Octagon outing, which looks set to mark his toughest test under the UFC banner to date.

While he acknowledged the task ahead of him, the Aussie did take a moment to let his gaze drift beyond this weekend's clash with "Danger" and on to what could come next.

When asked whether he's eying up the other flyweight clash on the March 2 main card between Alex Perez and Muhammad Mokaev, "Astroboy" pointed to a former champ who is coming off a defeat as a more realistic option.

"I think I'm gonna hit him (Schnell) with a right hand to the jaw, he's gonna wobble, fall over, and I'm gonna finish him with some ground-and-pound," Erceg said. "I'm happy to fight everybody, but I think it's more likely 'cause both of them (Perez and Mokaev) are ahead of me on the way up that they'll probably get a Manel Kape or a (Matheus) Nicolau.

"So I'm looking at the moment at somebody coming on the way down who was previously way ahead of me. I want Brandon Moreno next. I think that would be a great fight," Erceg continued. "I had (Brandon) Royval winning (the Mexico City headliner), but it was a super close fight. It was uncharacteristically sloppy from Moreno, I thought. Usually, he has clean boxing and is obviously very fit. That fight, he was swinging a little bit, falling over."

Moreno was in action on home soil this past weekend, falling to a narrow decision loss in a rematch against Royval at Mexico City's Arena CDMX.

With "The Assassin Baby" likely needing to fight down the pecking order next time out, Erceg is hoping to throw his name into the hat by adding another impressive performance to his UFC record this Saturday night in Las Vegas.