Steve Erceg gets another new opponent for UFC Fight Night at Apex

Steve Erceg has yet another new opponent for this weekend’s UFC Fight Night.

The one-time flyweight title challenger will take on Ode' Osbourne in Saturday’s co-main event, the UFC announced Tuesday.

Erceg, 29, was initially slated to face Alex Perez on the Aug. 9 UFC Apex card but Perez was forced out of the matchup and replaced by Hyun Sung Park, but then Park was tasked to face Tatsuro Taira on short notice in this past weekend’s main event.

Jamaica’s Osbourne, 33, is coming off an April technical knockout win over Luis Gurule, a victory that snapped Osbourne’s three-fight losing streak.

Australia’s Erceg will be looking to do the same. He has lost three straight, albeit all to elite competition — a championship loss to Alexandre Pantoja, then to recent title challenger Kai Kara-France and former champ Brandon Moreno.

Erceg earned his title shot last year at UFC 301 after winning his first three UFC bouts in a nine-month span after debuting in 2023. He enters the weekend ranked No. 10 at 125 pounds.

Also, a light-heavyweight matchup between Cody Brundage and Eric McConico has been added to Saturday’s preliminary card.

Brundage, 31, is returning to the 205-pound division for the first time since 2020. It’ll be his first light-heavyweight matchup of his UFC career. Brundage is coming off a majority draw in June against Mansur Abdul-Malik at UFC Atlanta. That bout ended early in the third round after an accidental clash of heads. It was originally ruled a technical decision victory for Abdul-Malik before being overturned and changed to a majority draw by the Georgia athletic commission.  

McConico, 35, is coming off a submission loss to Nursulton Ruziboev in his UFC debut in February. 

Saturday’s card is headlined by top-10 middleweight contenders Anthony Hernandez (No. 9) and Roman Dolidze (No. 10). 

Below is a look at the new projected bout order for UFC Fight Night: Dolidze vs. Hernandez:

MAIN CARD

-- Roman Dolidze vs. Anthony Hernandez

-- Steve Erceg vs. Ode' Osbourne

-- Iasmin Lucindo vs. Angela Hill

-- Andre Fili vs. Christian Rodriguez

-- Miles Johns vs. Jean Matsumoto

-- Eryk Anders vs. Christian Leroy Duncan

PRELIMINARY CARD

-- Julius Walker vs. Raffael Cerqueira

-- Elijah Smith vs. Toshiomi Kazama

-- Joselyne Edwards vs. Priscila Cachoeira

-- Uros Medic vs. Gilbert Urbina

-- Gabriella Fernandes vs. Julija Stoliarenko

-- Cody Brundage vs. Eric McConico