UFC 301: Pantoja Vs. Erceg: Fight Card, Betting Odds, Start Time

Pantoja Vs Erceg

All the fights for UFC 301: Pantoja vs. Erceg card on Saturday 4th May 2024. With betting odds, start time, date, fight card, and information on how to watch.

  • Event: UFC 301: “Pantoja Vs. Erceg”
  • Date: Sat, 4th May, 2024
  • Location: Farmasi Arena, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
  • Broadcast: ESPN+ PPV in U.S. and TNT Sports in UK
Pantoja Vs Erceg Poster

UFC 301: Pantoja Vs. Erceg Full fight card

Main Card

  • Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg: Flyweight Main Event Title Fight
  • Jonathan Martinez vs. Jose Aldo: Bantamweight
  • Michel Pereira vs. Makhmud Muradov: Middleweight
  • Anthony Smith vs. Vitor Petrino: Light Heavyweight
  • Joanderson Brito vs. Jack Shore: Featherweight

Prelims

  • Paul Craig vs. Caio Borralho: Middleweight
  • Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Iasmin Lucindo: Women’s Strawweight
  • Jean Silva vs. William Gomis: Featherweight
  • Joaquim Silva vs. Drakkar Klose: Lightweight

Early Prelims

  • Elves Brener vs. Myktybek Orolbai: Lightweight
  • Dione Barbosa vs. Ernesta Kareckaite: Women’s Flyweight
  • Ismael Bonfim vs. Vinc Pichel: Lightweight
  • Alessandro Costa vs. Kevin Borjas: Flyweight
  • Mauricio Ruffy vs. Jamie Mullarkey: Lightweight

*Fight card, bout order, and number of fights are subject to change

Tale of the Tape

Name:Alexandre Pantoja Steve Erceg
Country:BrazilAustralia
Age:3427
Height:5’5″/165.10 cm5’8″/172.72 cm
Weight:125 lbs125 lbs
Reach:68 inches68.5 inches
Alexandre Pantoja and Steve Erceg

Start date and time

UFC 301: Alexandre Pantoja Vs. Steve Erceg takes place on Saturday, May 4th, at the Farmasi Arena, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The main card will start at 10 p.m. ET. The event starts with the early preliminary card that will begin at 6 p.m. ET, with the regular prelims starting at 8 p.m. ET. In the UK, the main event starts at 3 a.m. GMT with the Prelims starting at 11 p.m. GMT.

Betting Odds

The UFC will return to Brazil’s most iconic city on Saturday night.

Lucky fans in attendance at the Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro will get to watch a stacked card of fights that is topped by a flyweight title clash.

In the main event, Alexandre Pantoja puts his 125lb belt on the line in a highly anticipated fight against #10 contender Steve Erceg. 

Before that, the former featherweight champion Jose Aldo, who is aptly nicknamed ‘The King of Rio’, ends his brief MMA retirement against streaking bantamweight contender Jonathan Martinez. 

Join LowKickMMA as we preview and predict these two massive fights and provide you with UFC odds for every fight on the main card this weekend. 

Alexandre Pantoja vs Steve Erceg 

Pantoja is the -188 favorite to retain his belt and there are several reasons for that, so we are backing him to beat Erceg in a pretty safe bet. 

Alexandre Pantoja

‘The Cannibal’ is undoubtedly world-class and has proven it by competing against and beating the very best flyweight fighters on the planet for years. 

Erceg is big, strong, and packs a punch. Gamblers hoping to cash in big this weekend will have money +163 underdog scoring the upset by knocking out Pantoja. 

However, his best win is a stoppage against Matt Schnell, and we think that this opportunity may have come just a bit too soon for the fight who is 3-0 in the UFC. 

With that in mind, we’ll be betting on Pantoja to win and suggest fans hoping to bolster their odds back him to finish the fight by KO, TKO, or submission at +120.

Jonathan Martinez vs Jose Aldo

Aldo as an underdog against a fringe contender is borderline disrespectful, and we’ll be betting on him to cause an upset at +130. 

‘Scarface’ has never lost to anyone at the level of Martinez. Even though it’s been almost two years since his last MMA fight, we saw enough against Merab Dvalishvili to bet on the UFC legend to make a triumphant return.

Martinez has put together a nice six-fight win streak and his leg kicks are a thing a beauty but no one on his record would lay a glove on Aldo.

Regardless of Aldo’s age, he’s a massive step up for Martinez, who can win this fight but is not worth betting on as the -160 favorite. 

Anthony Smith vs Vitor Petrino 

Smith has one foot on our metaphorical MMA door and Petrino might knock him right through it when they clash at UFC 301 – but we’ll be betting on ‘Lionheart’.

Petrino is 11-0, appears to be the next big thing, and is fighting at home, however, making him a -500 favorite in his toughest test yet is ludicrous. 

Smith is a crafty veteran and former title challenger, who has shown tons of heart throughout his UFC career and is unlikely to fold from Petrino’s early onslaught.

At odds of +350, we believe it’s worth backing him to roll back the years and give Petrino his first taste of defeat as a professional MMA fighter.

Michel Pereira vs Ihor Potieria 

Pereira is a -500 favorite we will be getting behind at UFC 301. 

Michel Pereira
Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The acrobatic knockout artist has put together an incredible seven-fight win streak and has looked better than ever since moving to middleweight.

Potieria had a tough fight on his hands anyway, but the fact he is stepping in against Michel Pereira on just a few weeks’ notice justifies his +380 underdog status. 

We have no doubt he’ll lose. The only question is will he be able to survive 15 minutes in the Octagon with Pereira? If you think no, bet on Pereira to finish the fight and bump up those odds. 

Paul Craig vs Caio Borralho 

Craig has made a career out of upsetting fighters on the rise, and at +400 odds you can be sure lots of people will be backing him to do so again at UFC 301.

Unfortunately, we don’t see ‘Bearjew’ pulling off an upset against Borralho – the 15-1 contender who hasn’t lost since his second pro fight almost a decade ago. 

Craig has lost three of his last four fights and seems to be cutting a lot of weight to make the 185lb limit, which may not be the correct division for him. 

Borralho is the -550 favorite, so there’s not much value in betting on him unless you’re confident of how he’ll get the job done against Craig.

Tickets

If you are lucky enough to be in or near Rio De Janeiro and would like to be there on Saturday the 4th May to watch UFC 301, Pantoja Vs. Erceg live in the arena, you can purchase tickets here. VIP Seats are available here.

Tickets will be available at many different prices.

UFC 301 Promo Trailer

How To Watch UFC 301?

UFC 301: Pantoja Vs. Erceg is Live on ESPN+ PPV and available to purchase right now, you can purchase the PPV here. The prelims will be available to watch on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. The PPV will cost $79.99.

In the UK, UFC 301 will be available on TNT Sports as well as the early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

What is Next after UFC 301: Pantoja Vs Erceg?

The next event after UFC 301 is UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Nascimento at Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MO on 11 May 2024.