UFC 289: Who is Stephen Erceg?
Stephen Erceg makes his UFC debut and looks to defeat David Dvořák to get ranked.
The UFC returns to Canada for the first time since September 2019 when a fight night card headlined by Donald Cerrone and Justin Gaethje was hosted by Vancouver, British Columbia. UFC 289 will return to the same city and venue this Saturday with a Pay-Per-View event with the women's bantamweight title at stake, where the champion, Amanda Nunes will defend her crown against the challenger, Irene Aldana.
The fight card includes a possible No. 1 contender fight in the lightweight division between Charles Oliveira and Beneil Darish. The Great White North is well represented on Saturday with five fighters hailing from Canadian roots- Mike Mallot, Marc-Andre Barriault, Jasmine Jasudavicius, Aiemann Zahabi, and Kyle Nelson.
Throughout the 11 scheduled fights and the 22 combatants just one newcomer is making his octagon debut and his name is Steve Erceg (9-1) who is fighting out of Perth, Western Australia. He is the second fight of the night and is scheduled for a flyweight bout against No. 10 ranked David Dvořák (20-5).
Erceg recently fought in February and defeated his opponent with a rear naked choke, which adds six submissions to his seven finishes. He by style is a grappler and will look to clinch or body lock to establish control and submit his opponent, while on the other hand, Dvorak is more well-round and has never been submitted in his career.
According to FanDuel, he is a large underdog in his first UFC appearance with odds at (+250), meanwhile, Dvorak is the favorite at (-340)
Dvorak looks to start his 2023 with a win after two straight defeats
Dvorak made his UFC debut in 2020 and began his career with three straight wins to find himself ranked in the top 10 of the flyweight division. To start 2022 he shared the octagon with Matheus Nicolau and suffered his first defeat in over 9 years snapping his 16-fight winning streak.
At the close of last year, he took his second loss in the UFC and fifth in his career at the hands of Manuel Kape. Dvořák by a significant margin has more experience with twice as many fights as Erceg but gives up four inches in height.
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