Australian Steve Erceg hopes the weird transfer of coaching in a parking lot at night time could have him primed for fulfillment when he faces Brazilian Alexandre Pantoja for the UFC flyweight belt in Rio de Janeiro this weekend.
Erceg is simply three fights into his UFC profession, however his gorgeous performances over the previous 12 months imply he’s now only one win away from turning into a world champion.
The chances are properly and actually stacked towards Erceg on Saturday night time (Sunday EST).
Not solely will the 27-year-old be taking over the most effective UFC flyweight on this planet, he can even be greeted by a parochial crowd chanting “uh vai morrer”, which interprets to “you are going to die”.
“For each single UFC occasion in Brazil once you see the foreigners stroll out towards a Brazilian, they’re getting yelled at like that,” Erceg advised AAP from his base in Brazil.
One other difficult side going through Erceg is the time of the struggle, which might be held at about 1am at Farmasi Area.
The West Australian has provide you with a novel approach to acclimatise – holding late-night coaching periods within the automobile park of his Brazilian resort over the previous two weeks.
“We try to coach at roughly the time of the struggle, so we have been up fairly late,” Erceg mentioned.
“We run 5 – 6 kilometres most nights. And out the entrance of the resort, there have been no mats or something, so (we have been utilizing) hit pads exterior the resort each night time.
“Early on no person actually appeared to trouble us, after which nearer to the struggle followers began arriving and taking extra images.
“It is completely different now as a result of the UFC workers are right here, so we now have correct exercise rooms.
“However till yesterday, we have been within the automobile park.”
Life in Brazil has its risks, with Erceg seeing first-hand simply how harmful the Favelas may be.
“There have been buildings on high of buildings,” he mentioned.
“There was one avenue that was popping off, they usually mentioned, ‘you’ll be able to’t go up in that avenue, as a result of there are individuals with weapons over there’.
“We did not hear any gun go off, however apparently there have been some individuals round that we should not go in search of.”
Erceg could not assist however discover the flyweight belt when his face-off with 34-year-old Pantoja was held this week on the iconic Parque Bondinho Pao de Acucar.
“I checked out it briefly. It was method shinier than I anticipated,” the Australian mentioned.
“The belt is sort of a cool memento to say what you have completed.
“However the factor I am after is being the hardest man on this planet. That is why I began.
“To struggle and beat who individuals suppose is the hardest man proper now, that is what means essentially the most to me.”