Another big flyweight match-up has been reported for the UFC Fight Night event that will be hosted on March 1.
At the Apex in Las Vegas, a former title challenger will look to get back in the win column when he faces one of the division's most in-form contenders.
Steve Erceg kicked off his 2024 campaign with a big win over Matt Schnell which proved to be a huge moment in his career.
As a result of that performance, he got a flyweight title shot against Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301 after going 3-0 in the UFC.
After just coming up short against the champion, he was finished for the first time in his career by Kai Kara-France at UFC 305 in August.
His next opponent will be the man that is ranked one spot higher than him in the top 15, #8-ranked Asu Almabayev.
The fight was initially reported by @darteam.kazakhstan on Instagram before being corroborated by several other sources.
Almabayev is currently riding a 17-fight winning streak with four of those victories taking place inside the Octagon.
His latest win over Matheus Nicolau saw him enter the division's top 10 and with a win over Erceg, he could be on the cusp of the top 5.
The card is set to be headliner by an even more crucial match-up at 125-pounds as Brandon Royval takes on Manel Kape in a potential title eliminator.
At this time, the following fights have been reported for March 1:
Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape (flyweight main event)
Steve Erceg vs. Asu Almabayev (flyweight)
William Gomis vs. Lucas Almeida (featherweight)
Nasrat Haqparast vs. Esteban Ribovics (lightweight)
Danny Barlow vs. Sam Patterson (welterweight)
Cody Brundage vs. Julian Marquez (middleweight)
Montana De La Rosa vs. Luana Carolina (women’s flyweight)
Lucas Almeida vs. Danny Silva (featherweight)
