The Ultimate Fighting Championship had to dig deep to find someone to face Jan Blachowicz.
On Tuesday, the promotion indicated that the UFC Belgrade co-headliner of Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov would no longer be happening. Due to an injury to Khalil Rountree prior to his main attraction matchup against Magomed Ankalaev the week before, Guskov was pulled from that pairing and slotted against Ankalaev.
With Blachowicz needing a new dance partner, the organization announced on Friday that stepping up on a late notice will be Navajo Stirling (10-0). The two light heavyweights will tangle in the second-to-last match at UFC Fight Night 283, which will go down on Aug. 1 at the Belgrade Arena in the Serbian capital city.
From Guskov to Stirling: A Serbian film
The former champ from Poland was expecting to rematch Guskov following a surprising majority draw in December. On the UFC 323 main card opener, Guskov dropped his foe in the second stanza and picked up a 10-8 score to reach 28-28 on two of three scorecards—Blachowicz earned a 29-28 from the third judge. This continued a rough stretch of appearances dating back to 2022, as Blachowicz has not gotten his hand raised since Aleksandar Rakic blew out his knee against him at UFC on ESPN 36. He is one of a select few athletes in company history to have multiple bouts scored as draws, with his title tilt against the aforementioned Ankalaev going the way of a split draw.
With five UFC triumphs on his ledger since debuting with the promotion at the end of 2024, it has been nothing but upwards for the 28-year-old out of New Zealand. The City Kickboxing student introduced himself to the organization with a trio of decisions against George Tokkos, Ivan Erslan and Rodolfo Bellato to establish himself as one to watch. Knockouts over Bruno Lopes and Ion Cutelaba in March and June, respectively, stamped the unbeaten fighter as a contender on the rise.
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