| UFC 301: Pantoja vs. Erceg | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 301: Pantoja vs. Erceg | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | May 4, 2024 (2024-05-04) | |||
| Venue | Farmasi Arena | |||
| City | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |||
| Attendance | 14,514[1] | |||
| Total gate | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 301: Pantoja vs. Erceg was a mixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on May 4, 2024, at theFarmasi Arena, inRio de Janeiro, Brazil.[2]
The event marked the promotion's 12th visit to Rio de Janeiro and first sinceUFC 283 in January 2023.[2]
AUFC Flyweight Championship bout between current championAlexandre Pantoja andSteve Erceg headlined the event.[3]
FormerWEC Featherweight Champion and two-timeUFC Featherweight ChampionJosé Aldo made his return in a bantamweight bout againstJonathan Martinez, after retiring in September 2022.[4]
A lightweight bout between Ismael Bonfim andVinc Pichel took place at the event.[5] The pair was previously expected to meet atUFC Fight Night: Almeida vs. Lewis but the bout was scrapped after Bonfim missed weight.[6]
A middleweight bout betweenMichel Pereira andMakhmud Muradov was expected to take place at the event.[7] However, Muradov withdrew due to an infection.[8] He was replaced by Ihor Potieria, who was also scheduled to compete againstSharabutdin Magomedov atUFC on ABC: Whittaker vs. Chimaev on June 22.[9]
A featherweight bout betweenJean Silva and William Gomis was scheduled for this event.[10] However, the bout was eventually cancelled due to Gomis suffering a weight cut related illness.[11]
During the event's broadcast, formerUFC Light Heavyweight Champion (also the2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Champion)Maurício Rua was announced as the next "pioneer wing"UFC Hall of Fame inductee during June's International Fight Week festivities in Las Vegas. Rua was already aUFC Hall of Famer himself after a light heavyweight bout that took place in November 2011 atUFC 139 against the formerPRIDE Welterweight,PRIDE Middleweight and formerStrikeforce Light Heavyweight ChampionDan Henderson (also a formerUFC Middleweight andLight Heavyweight title challenger) was inducted in the "fight wing" section as part of the 2018 class.[12]
| Main card (ESPN+ PPV) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Flyweight | Alexandre Pantoja (c) | def. | Steve Erceg | Decision (unanimous) (48–47, 48–47, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | [a] |
| Bantamweight | José Aldo | def. | Jonathan Martinez | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Anthony Smith | def. | Vitor Petrino | Submission (guillotine choke) | 1 | 2:00 | |
| Middleweight | Michel Pereira | def. | Ihor Potieria | Submission (guillotine choke) | 1 | 0:54 | |
| Middleweight | Caio Borralho | def. | Paul Craig | KO (punches) | 2 | 2:10 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Featherweight | Joanderson Brito | def. | Jack Shore | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 2 | 3:35 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Iasmin Lucindo | def. | Karolina Kowalkiewicz | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Myktybek Orolbai | def. | Elves Brener | Decision (unanimous) (29–27, 29–27, 29–27) | 3 | 5:00 | [b] |
| Lightweight | Drakkar Klose | def. | Joaquim Silva | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Early preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Maurício Ruffy | def. | Jamie Mullarkey | TKO (punches) | 1 | 4:42 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Dione Barbosa | def. | Ernesta Kareckaitė | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Ismael Bonfim | def. | Vinc Pichel | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Flyweight | Alessandro Costa | def. | Kevin Borjas | TKO (punches) | 2 | 1:35 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[14]
