Navajo Stirling announced himself as one of the UFC’s most dangerous new contenders, stopping former light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz inside three minutes on Sunday at UFC Belgrade.
Stepping in on short notice against one of the division’s most respected veterans, the unbeaten New Zealander produced the biggest win of his career, finishing Blachowicz by first-round TKO at the 2:56 mark.
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The City Kickboxing star showed little sign of nerves despite sharing the Octagon with the former champ, who hadn’t been knocked out since 2019.
After absorbing some early punishment, Stirling quickly settled into range before unleashing a crushing right hand that sent the Pole powerhouse crashing to the canvas.
Sensing the finish, the Kiwi pounced with a barrage of elbows and punches, forcing referee Marc Goddard to wave the contest off before Blachowicz could recover.
“The thing about fighting is it all starts [in your mind],” Stirling said in his post-fight interview.
“If you can see it, you can make it happen.”
The performance immediately drew praise from across the MMA world, with several former UFC champions declaring Stirling a genuine problem for the very best in his division.
“Dang, Stirling just cemented himself as a contender,” former UFC champion Belal Muhammad wrote on X.
“What a shot by Navajo!” posted former champion Henry Cejudo.
Stirling’s former teammate, Israel Adesanya, is now calling for him to get a top-five ranking.
“He just got back from Japan last fight, takes this fight on short notice against a former champion, and smokes the dude – absolutely smokes him,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel.
“No one has ever done that before to Jan until today.
“Top five. Put my man in the top five. Hurry up. And $100 Gs.”
Stirling, who moves to 11-0 in his pro career, is now a very real threat to the light heavyweight title.
However, that picture is complicated by the fact that the man wearing the title strap in his weight class is City Kickboxing teammate Carlos Ulberg, with Stirling repeatedly stating he’s not interested in fighting teammates
For now, Stirling wants to take out the other top challengers.
“If [Khalil] Rountree or Paulo Costa want a fight before the year ends, you know who to call,” he said on Sunday.
The dominant victory also serves as another sign that City Kickboxing’s next gen is beginning to emerge after some have questioned the gym’s future following Adesanya’s long reign.
“I’m such a proud representative of New Zealand and City Kickboxing,” he told Fox Sports Australia earlier this year.
“We had Israel on top for such a long time – and then when he came off the throne we had people coming at us saying that we were finished and what not.
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“We’ve been going through a long rebuilding phase and now seeing all the new guys coming though. So much talent.
“We’ve got like 4-5 new guys in the UFC — all out of one team and we’re all homegrown fighters. It’s like another wave coming through.
“It just goes to show that we’re a top gym. And New Zealand is just a country of five million. It’s so impressive and something to be proud of.”