Julian Erosa Gets His Wish, Fights Steven Peterson On February 5

‘Juicy’ asked for a fight with ‘Ocho’ Peterson and got it.

Julian Erosa will be fighting Steven Peterson on February 5 at a yet-to-be-announced UFC event. MMA DNA was the first to break the news. Both fighters would confirm the booking on their personal Instagrams.

After Erosa’s win last month at UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Till, he had someone on the tip of his tongue, ‘Ocho’ Peterson.

During his post-fight interview backstage, he told reporters why he wanted to fight Peterson.

“Well, I was trying to get a fight for a while, and I called out that Steven Peterson kid. I posted it on my Instagram, and I even direct messaged him and then posted on his picture ‘check your DMs.’ I was trying to fight him, and I was looking for a fight,” Erosa told reporters. “He called out Nate Landwehr after his fight against Chase Hooper, but Landwehr got booked up in October. So, I was thinking, well unless he wants to wait until almost next year to fight, why don’t we fight and then this fight came around, so I took this one.”

Erosa did get an answer, and so he felt disrespected because Peterson ignored his message on Instagram.

“I would still like to fight Steven Peterson; I think it is a great opponent for me. He’s coming off a win against Chase Hooper, but I want to fight him more now because I felt it was disrespectful. He ignored me. He could have been like, ‘Hey man, I’m doing this, this and this’ – I’m not the kind of person to say you’re scared to fight me. If you have things going on, you got things going on. We don’t have to fight; I was making a suggestion. At least acknowledge that I did that; he just ignored me 100%.”

Peterson finally responded to Erosa on Instagram.

“Be careful what you wish for… February 5th I step back into the @ufc Octagon to handle business. This guy has been calling me out, I’m here to answer the call. Let’s go,” Peterson wrote.

After alternating wins and losses in his UFC career, it looks like Peterson (19-9) has found his stride and is riding a two-fight win streak. Returning after taking 2020 off, he dominated fan-favorite Chase Hooper in his return fight at UFC 263. However, he did miss weight for the Hooper fight.

Erosa (26-9) got back into the win column after suffering his first loss since returning to the promotion. Since returning to the UFC for the third time, ‘Juicy J’ has been on fire. He is 3-1, with all of his wins coming via stoppage.

What do you think of the booking of Julian Erosa and Steven Peterson?