UFC 301: Steve Erceg's improbable flyweight title shot - ESPN

«Who is this guy?»

When it was announced that Steve Erceg (12-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) would challenge Alexandre Pantoja for the men's flyweight championship at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro, the overwhelming number of comments on social media were similar to the aforementioned one. One Instagram commenter asked why actor Steve Carell is fighting for a UFC championship. Several others simply asked: «Why?»

And who can blame them? In just three fights, the UFC's No. 10 ranked Erceg — unranked in ESPN's flyweight rankings — will be the lowest-ranked fighter in a division to challenge for a title since Dan Henderson faced Michael Bisping for the middleweight title while being ranked No. 13 in the UFC's rankings. Erceg's current win streak, unanimous decisions over David Dvorak (UFC 289) and Alessandro Costa (UFC 295) along with a brutal knockout of Matt Schnell (UFN 238), is lacking a fighter ranked in the top five.

Normally, a fighter of Erceg's tenure would slide into this opportunity on short notice due to a higher-ranked opponent suffering an injury rather than being booked straight away — especially considering that Erceg's last outing saw him defeat an opponent outside the top five who had lost two of his past three fights.

«I 100% agree that, yeah, I'm not the guy who is supposed to be first in line to get a title shot being ranked No. 10,» Erceg, 28, told ESPN.

He's completely self-aware and understands why he is in this position, getting a title opportunity less than a year after his debut with the promotion. The UFC secured a pay-per-view date in Brazil, and the flyweight champion made it clear that he wanted to compete on the card, no matter who it was against. The UFC was in a dilemma as many of the worthy contenders were