Dana White Told to Be Set for Only ‘$10K PPV’ Buys as UFC 301 Set Headliner as Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg

Pay-per-views, like the UFC 298 or 299 rake in millions of PPV points. It’s all because of the big fights that go down in them. So, would you be surprised if an upcoming pay-per-view only rakes in about $10,000 PPV buys? That would certainly be an upsetting day for UFC CEO Dana White.

With UFC 301 followed by UFC 300, is just around the corner, and fans are already speculating how things will turn out for Dana White’s main event. The big fight of the PPV was just recently announced and it took many by surprise. After all, it’s not every day that you see a champion fight a low-ranked opponent.

That’s right, the reigning flyweight champion of the world, Alexandre Pantoja will defend his title up against not the 5th, 6th, or even the 8th-ranked fighter in the division. He’ll be fighting #10 Steve Erceg at UFC 301. One can see why fans were taken aback.

By no means are either of them bad fighters. However, Erceg only recently joined the UFC back in 2023 and has so far fought thrice. He’s secured victories all three times and has a record of 12-1-0 but perhaps he is rather far away from a deserving title shot at least.

Perhaps Dana White’s matchmaking didn’t make all the fans too happy with this one. They poured out their sentiments on X with some fans alleging that this PPV won’t really sell as well as some of the others have. Here’s how fans felt about it all.

Fans bash Dana White for his matchmaking skills

UFC fans are not kind to underwhelming news. While no one can count out Erceg already, the fight still sounds a bit odd given that he’s so far below many other top contenders. Many fans rallied for Muhammad Mokaev to get the opportunity instead.

Meanwhile, some claimed they’d never heard of Erceg.

This fan claimed that the PPV buys weren’t looking too good for this one.

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This fan wanted everyone to leave for another promotion.

While this fan called was not happy with Dana White’s matchmaking.

Finally, this fan had ideas about the ranking system.

Clearly, fans are upset with this one and Dana White might have food for thought. Their upset is reasonable too after all Pantoja is such a celebrated champion and for him to fight a very low-ranked opponent is out of character, to say the least. Perhaps bigger fights will come after he has fought Erceg but is it not too much risk? What if a fresh new fighter defeats the champion? Could it happen? Let us know your thoughts.

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