West Australian UFC star Steve Erceg wants to become an undeniable challenger for featherweight title again

West Australian UFC star Steve Erceg says he wants to become an undeniable title challenger once again as he aims for a third consecutive win this weekend.

Erceg (14-4) will step into the octagon against Ramazonbek Temirov (19-3) in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, only months after his unanimous decision win against Tim Elliott in front of friends and family in Perth.

For the 30-year-old, it looms as an important step back towards the top of the flyweight division, with his career having been at the crossroads early last year on the back of three straight defeats, including a title fight against former champion Alexandre Pantoja.

Erceg said he wanted one more fight before the year was out to continue his momentum before taking a break in December ahead of what could be a career-defining 2027.

“Short term, I want one more fight this year. My plan is to mentally treat it like any other sportsperson as far as you have your season and then you take whatever that period of time is off and focus on competitions, so I want to take December off,” he said.

“I’ll still train, but it’ll be reduced volume, and I won’t have to worry about competing, so I won’t have to worry about my weight as much, and I can relax a little bit, which means I want to fight anytime up until November 31.

“And then long-term plans, I just want to tick off better and better names, moving up the rankings until people start talking about my name for title shots again.

“I want to build a complete body of work that I can base my confidence on. It won’t be misguided confidence or anything like that, when it’s my ego telling me I’m the best; it will be ‘Hey, look at my body of work, how can you deny me?’.”

While Erceg is back to his winning ways, four of his last five wins have come by decision. The man known as “Astroboy” said he wanted to get back to his old ways of finishing opponents.

“When I was fighting before the UFC, I was a finish machine, and I prided myself on that I was exciting in that way,” he said.

“The guys I have been fighting in the UFC are better than those I was fighting in Eternal MMA, so it’s been a bit harder, but the better I get, the more the finishes will come.

“But at the end of the day, the win is the most important part. If the finish doesn’t come, it doesn’t come. I am not going to force anything.”