Athletes
Navajo Stirling | Playing The Long Game
Ascending Light Heavyweight Talks Breakout Year, Facing Jan Blachowicz
When Navajo Stirling arrived on the UFC stage following a second-round knockout win on Dana White’s Contender Series, he touched down as the next member of the elite City Kickboxing crew from New Zealand to land inside the Octagon, and with that came a ton of expectations and anticipation.
Following the path blazed by Israel Adesanya, Dan Hooker, and Kai Kara-France, and debuting just a few years after teammate Carlos Ulberg, the consensus view was that Stirling would be the next to hit the ground running and make an accelerated climb up the divisional ranks. But that isn’t what happened; at least not right away.
“I think I did the right thing: I took the development road as a prospect instead of just all hype,” suggested Stirling on Wednesday afternoon, just a few days ahead of his co-main event clash with former champ Jan Blachowicz in Belgrade, Serbia. “I could have come in and got three first-round finishes and then thrown in the deep end, and been like, ‘Oh, now it’s sink or swim.’ I think that halted my superstar progress, not everyone jumping on the train because of those performances, but we looked at it as good for the long run.”
After claiming his spot on the roster in September 2024, Stirling made his promotional debut on the final card of the year, defeating Tuco Tokkos by unanimous decision in Tampa, Florida. It was a solid effort, but not the dominant showing many had forecasted, and when his next two fights went roughly the same way, spots on the bandwagon started to become available.
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Building incrementally doesn’t generate as much attention or buzz as blowing someone out of the water as quickly as possible, and playing the long game is passé in a world filled with folks focused on getting their 15 minutes of fame. But Stirling and his coaches were right in slow-playing things, in gaining experience and building brick-by-brick through those first three fights.
In March, Stirling registered his first stoppage win inside the Octagon and then followed it up three months later with a similar result against Ion Cutelaba, navigating the step up in competition with aplomb while advancing to 10-0 overall.
“Yeah, I think it’s all mental; it starts up top,” he said, addressing the clear step forward he’s taken this year in terms of both his confidence and his performances. “I’ve been training with high-level fighters for years, so I know that my skill set is way up there. It’s more so just a moment and making that walk to the Octagon; that’s what my coaches talk about all the time.
“It’s always about getting comfortable with that walk to the Octagon: the stakes are high every time, and that’s all it is for me. I’ve done it enough now to be comfortable. I’ve fought in different spots on the card. I think in my debut, I opened up the main card, and I’ve fought early on the prelims, and my last fight I was co-main as well. I’m not gonna be out of touch when I’m the co-main for this one; it’s just a bigger crowd. I’ve been in big crowds before, so you’ve just got to get used to it.”
Saturday’s opportunity to face the former champion wasn’t originally on his schedule, but it was an opportunity that was too good for the ascending light heavyweight to pass up.
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Blachowicz was originally penciled in for a rematch with Bogdan Guskov, whom he battled to a draw last December at UFC 323. But when Magomed Ankalaev needed a dance partner last weekend in Abu Dhabi, Guskov was the one who accepted the assignment, leaving the Polish veteran without a dance partner. Though he’s barely a month removed from his last outing — and even less time removed from a well-earned trip to Japan that did more damage than his bout with Cutelaba — Stirling quickly raised his hand.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said with a smile when asked about competing so frequently. “I had a hard time finding fights outside of the UFC, I was fighting maybe once a year, sometimes not even any fights in a year, so to be blessed with so many opportunities to fight now is amazing.
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“I’m tryin’ to have a crack at Israel’s run,” continued Stirling. “I think he did four in a year as well; that was how he broke out into a massive star, so I’m tryin’ to copy him, follow in his footpath, and I know you become relevant through fighting, so that’s how it is.”
Adesanya did, in fact, win four fights in his first year on the roster, debuting in February with a victory over Rob Wilkinson and closing things out by stopping Derek Brunson at Madison Square Garden, and it was the launch pad to stardom for “The Last Stylebender.”
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It has taken Stirling a touch longer to get started, but adding this year’s efforts to last year’s opening performances has created an excellent base for his to potentially catapult himself into the thick of the chase in the light heavyweight division by collecting another win this weekend.
And while he’s trying to re-trace the steps Adesanya took to becoming a superstar by earning four wins in a calendar year, it’s the blueprint laid out by another teammate that will serve him well this weekend.
“We watched the fight with Carlos,” Stirling began, discussing the experience his team have in facing Blachowicz and how Ulberg’s bout with him in March 2025 was a foundational piece of his preparations. “It’s just about watching the way Carlos done it, where I can capitalize with my style, where we thought he could have done better.
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“For me, it’s just adding — I know exactly what he was trying to do when he was in there, what he was having trouble with getting out of his own arsenal, so it was really just going over it with the coaches, roughing out the edges. I think we have a great game plan going forward and we’re ready for everything.”
As cool as this current moment has been for Stirling — five straight wins in the UFC, a chance to earn a third victory in 18 weeks and announce his presence as a legitimate contender — he’s so entrenched in the moment that he’s waiting to reflect on it all until the year is done and he’s accomplished what he’s set out to accomplish.
“I’ve been so focused on the present and what’s in front of me that I’ve really blocked out the noise on the outside, because it’s all noise at the end of the day,” Stirling said with a smirk. “I’m so good at tapping into what’s in front of me and blocking that out because I’ve had so much hype behind me since I started in martial arts, and every fight is another step up, another step up, another step up.
“There have been so many times I’ve had to step up and rise to the occasion, and I just trust in myself now that I’m able to do that. I think I’ll be able to look back and enjoy those moments at the end of the year, but for this year, I said to myself that I’m putting my foot on the gas pedal and just go.”
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So far, everything has gone as hoped, and for Stirling, the way to continue that this weekend is pretty straightforward.
“For me, it’s just being disciplined to my style, my game plan and being sharp for however long I need to be.”
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