UFC flyweight Ode Osbourne nearly handed Steve Erceg his fourth consecutive loss.
Just minutes before Anthony Hernandez‘s dominant win in the UFC Vegas 109 headliner, flyweights Steve Erceg and Ode Osbourne put on one of the best fights of the night in a bantamweight co-main. The fight came together on days’ notice after Erceg’s originally scheduled opponent, Hyun Sung Park, was rescheduled to fill the UFC Vegas 108 main event slot.
Osbourne put on a strong performance despite taking the fight on late notice. But Erceg squeaked out a unanimous decision win on the judges’ scorecards.
Social media was split on how the UFC Vegas 109 co-main event was scored, during a bizarre night of judging at the Apex. Osbourne believes he deserved to get the nod over Erceg after outstriking him in several statistical categories.
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Ode Osbourne reacts to short-notice defeat at UFC Vegas 109
In a recent post to X, Osbourne broke his social media silence for the first time since UFC Vegas 109.
“Not too shabby for a guy that took a fight on 11 days notice [smile],” Osbourne posted with a screenshot of their side-by-side fight statistics.
Erceg’s grappling seemed to be the difference in their UFC Vegas 109 fight. Erceg led the way with 3 takedowns and almost five full minutes of control time.
Osbourne expressed a different tone on his Instagram story and congratulated Erceg on the victory.
“That was fun, that really was fun. First of all, just want to say thank you for everybody supporting me. Did the best I possibly could to prepare for that fight on 11 days notice. One week of training to prepare. Again, not an excuse, Steve Erceg did amazing,” Osbourne said.
“I’m not taking anything away from him, he did a good job. I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to compete for the number 9 spot. Just want to say thank you to [the UFC] and everyone for putting this fight together, because at the end of the day, it was exciting.”
Osbourne’s loss was his fifth over his last seven fights, and snaps his momentum after earning a knockout win over Luis Gurule in April. Before the Gurule fight, Osbourne lost three-straight fights to Ronaldo Rodriguez, Jafel Filho, and Asu Almabayev.
Meanwhile, Erceg snaps a four-fight losing streak with his closely-contested win at UFC Vegas 109. But Erceg wasn’t the biggest talking point after an eventful night at the Apex.
Anthony Hernandez called ‘the best middleweight’ after dominant UFC Vegas 109 showing
Just minutes after Erceg’s victory, Hernandez put on the greatest performance of his career over Roman Dolidze in the UFC Vegas 109 headliner. After a three-round beatdown of Dolidze, Hernandez sealed the deal in Round 4 with a standing rear-naked choke submission.
Hernandez’s victory left many singing his praises as he continued his climb up the middleweight rankings. UFC analyst Din Thomas went as far as to proclaim Hernandez the ‘best middleweight on the planet’ following his performance, a curious statement just days before Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev.
Regardless, Hernandez is potentially one win away from a title shot, and will sit Octagonside for UFC 319 this Saturday in Chicago. Don’t be surprised if Hernandez gets an Octagon faceoff with the Du Plessis vs. Chimaev winner.