[5] He attended Corpus Christi College[6] throughout his upbringing and has stated he was a "big WWE fan" in his younger years.
[7] His interest in professional wrestling led to discovering mixed martial arts when he watched Brock Lesnar compete against Frank Mir at UFC 81 and subsequently decided to begin MMA training at his local gym.
[8] Along with mixed martial arts, Erceg has competed in muay thai and Brazilian jiu jitsu competitions[9] as well as winning a gold medal in the 65 kg division at the Australian national freestyle wrestling championships.
[10] Starting his career in 2016, Erceg fought in Australian promotions such as Hex Fighting Series and Eternal MMA, winning the flyweight title in the latter and compiling an 9–1 record before signing with the UFC.
[13][14] The bout had been rebooked for UFC on ESPN: Strickland vs. Magomedov on July 1, 2023, but it was scrapped after Carpenter pulled out due to an undisclosed injury.