West Australian Steve Erceg’s incredible start to his UFC career has against stalled after being knocked out for the first time by New Zealander Kai Kara-France.

Only months after falling short of a fairytale win for the flyweight title, Erceg was knocked out with 56 seconds left in the first round to suffer consecutive losses for the first time in his career.

It was devastating for Erceg, who got the chance to fight in front of his home fans for the first time in his career for the promotion at UFC 305 at RAC Arena.

Kara-France (25-11) was on the backfoot early in the fight, but set up a beautiful step up left hook that landed on Erceg’s chin and dropped the rising star.

Erceg managed to get back to his feet and tried to scramble, but was clearly rocked and Kara-France landed a big straight punch on the nose to once again send his opponent to the mat.

From here he smelled blood, putting on plenty of ground and pound before the referee stopped the fight.

It was a second-consecutive defeat for Erceg who now has a 12-3 record and has him in danger of slipping out of the top-10 flyweight rankings.

Erceg will now fall down the pecking order for a re-match against flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja, while Kara-France is a step closer.

Kara-France said he executed everything he worked towards for three months in the victory.

“I definitely made a statement of don’t count me out and remind everyone I’m one of the best flyweights,” he said.

“Steve’s such a crafty fighter, he’s setting up traps and he’s quite big and rangy for the flyweight division so I had to set everything up. I couldn’t just expect just to wing punches and think that was going to connect.

“I had to listen to my corner, the advice from Eugene (Bareman) and the rest of my coaches. Just touch him, go to the body and set up your second phase because that first phase isn’t going to be there because he’s going to pull back or drift or do something to evade.

“If I set it up with something and then come in and commit, I knew tonight I would land that shot. I didn’t know it was going to be in the first round but once I had him hurt it’s instinct for me, it’s muscle memory.

“I know when someone’s hurt and I know when to go for that kill shot.”