Alexandre Pantoja, Steve Erceg's Next Best Fights After UFC 301 Results

Alexandre Pantoja is still the UFC flyweight champion, successfully defending his belt with a unanimous decision win over Steve Erceg in the main event of UFC 301 from Rio de Janeiro.

On top of being a cool moment where the champion got to defend his belt in front of his hometown, it was also a historic title defense. No one has won two fights to defend their belt since Demetrious Johnson's dominant title reign at the beginning of the division's history.

Deiveson Figueiredo was able to hold onto the belt for two fights but his second defense was a draw with Brandon Moreno.

The life of a champ isn't easy, though. The next title defense is always around the corner.

Erceg will likely be back in the mix at some point. For now, there are a couple of directions the UFC could go for their next title challenger.

Here, we'll take a look at who the best option is and who should be next for the vanquished challenger.

Brandon Moreno and Brandon Royval are the two highest-rated by the UFC media rankings. That obviously doesn't mean a whole lot given Erceg's title shot while he ranked No. 10.

The problem with both Brandons is that we've already seen Pantoja handle them both. He beat Moreno by split decision last July and followed it up with a unanimous decision win over Royval.

The Royval fight was not particularly close. He won all five rounds on two cards and won four rounds to one on another. Moreno was much closer but he followed it up with a loss to Royval so he needs to go out and win a fight or two before he has a legitimate case to be considered.

The solution is a fight with Amir Albazi.

In an ideal world, Albazi would pick up one more high profile win to build the fight. The 30-year-old was supposed to fight Moreno in February but was forced off the card with a neck injury.

Royval took his place and beat Moreno.

It could all end up working out for the Iraqi fighter, though. Even without another win he's on a five-fight win streak since signing with the UFC including a split decision win over Kai Kara-France.

If the UFC can justify a shot for Erceg then Albazi should be in play for the next one.

Truth be told, Erceg was probably rushed into this opportunity a little too early. The Australian won his first three fights in convincing fashion, but that shouldn't garner a title shot given the level of competition.

His next fight really needs to be a step back in competition. While it's hard to go all the way back to fighters who are unranked or ranked much further below him, it should at least be someone who is also coming off a loss.

Matheus Nicolau checks that box.

Much like Erceg, Nicolau came into the UFC on fire and won his first four fights including a knockout of Mattt Schnell. That earned him a shot against Brandon Royval that was probably a bit too much a bit too soon.

Then they gave him a main event bout against Alex Perez on a Fight Night card last week that resulted in a second-round knockout loss.

Both are fighters who were ascending but now leave questions about just how good they are.

A fight against each other would give them an opportunity to rebuild some of their lost momentum.