Unbeaten Navajo Stirling steps up to face Jan Blachowicz at UFC Belgrade after Guskov pulled

Navajo Stirling, unbeaten in ten professional bouts, will step in on short notice to face former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 283 on August 1 at the Belgrade Arena in Serbia. The pairing was confirmed on Friday after a cascade of late changes reshaped the card.

The original co-headliner of Blachowicz versus Bogdan Guskov collapsed earlier in the week when a pre-existing injury to Khalil Rountree forced the promotion to pull Guskov from the card entirely and slot him into the main event against Magomed Ankalaev instead. That left Blachowicz without an opponent and the organisation scrambling for a replacement.

Stirling, 28, is a City Kickboxing product out of New Zealand who has gone from strength to strength since debuting with the UFC at the end of 2024. He opened his promotional account with three consecutive decisions — over George Tokkos, Ivan Erslan, and Rodolfo Bellato — before announcing himself as a genuine contender with back-to-back knockouts of Bruno Lopes in March and Ion Cutelaba in June. Five UFC wins in total now sit alongside a perfect 10-0 professional record.

For Blachowicz, the bout represents yet another detour in a difficult run that stretches back to 2022. The Polish former champion has not had his hand raised since Aleksandar Rakic suffered a knee injury during their fight at UFC on ESPN 36, a result that effectively handed Blachowicz the victory. Since then, he has accumulated a string of losses and draws, including a split draw in his light heavyweight title fight against Ankalaev and, most recently, a majority draw against Guskov on the UFC 323 main card in December. In that contest, Guskov dropped Blachowicz in the second round and earned a 10-8 score on two of three scorecards, leaving the bout level at 28-28 on those cards, with only the third judge scoring it 29-28 in Blachowicz’s favour.

Blachowicz had been seeking a rematch with Guskov to settle that unfinished business. Instead, he now faces the most dangerous kind of opponent: a young, unbeaten fighter with nothing to lose and everything to gain on a stage that could define his career trajectory.