Navajo Stirling’s meteoric rise continued with the most important victory of his profession.
The unbeaten Metropolis Kickboxing standout remained excellent at UFC Belgrade, knocking out Jan Blachowicz within the first spherical to increase his rise via the sunshine heavyweight division.
Blachowicz began aggressively, urgent ahead behind heavy hooks whereas forcing Stirling to cope with fixed stress. The previous champion even discovered early success, bloodying the Kiwi’s nostril and briefly unsettling the undefeated prospect. Navajo Stirling, nevertheless, stayed composed and continued chopping away at Blachowicz’s lead leg whereas patiently trying to find a gap.
That second arrived halfway via the opening spherical. Stirling exploded ahead with a wonderfully timed straight proper that dropped the previous champion immediately. He wasted no time following Blachowicz to the canvas, unloading a barrage of elbows and punches till the referee stepped in to wave off the competition at 2:56 of Spherical 1.
The emphatic end handed Navajo Stirling the most important victory of his skilled profession and improved his excellent file to 11-0, together with 5-0 inside the UFC. The 28-year-old additionally prolonged his UFC profitable streak to 5 whereas firmly establishing himself as a official contender at 205 kilos.
In the meantime, Blachowicz fell to 12-8-2 within the UFC and stays and not using a victory since defeating Aleksandar Rakic in Could 2022.
