Athletes
Navajo Stirling Radiates Confidence
Light Heavyweight Navajo Stirling Believes He Has All The Makings To Be Star And Make A Quick Rise To The Top
You can feel the confidence Navajo Stirling has in himself with every sentence that he speaks. But when you train at City Kickboxing in Auckland, New Zealand, with some of the best in the world, you absorb that confidence.
“Being surrounded by a team that's been to the highest heights of the sport and being able to be fast tracked and kind of gone through and seen all of that, I know exactly what's to come,” Stirling said. “Even when it gets to the top 15 and even the title and then holding the title and then coming back and winning the title again, not a lot of fighters get to see that, and I have had the chance to be able to see that and experience what it's like. I know what's ahead of me and I just think about that when I think about my future.”
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You would never guess that Stirling only has six professional fights under his belt. But to him, it feels like he has much more experience than that. Every day he steps into the gym, he is surrounded by fighters like Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski, Carlos Ulberg and Dan Hooker, who push him to be his absolute best.
Now, as he enters his second fight week after making his debut last December, Sitrling feels more comfortable and more at peace, able to enjoy the daily obligations, now that he understands what the fight week schedule entails.
The Kiwi earned his UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series last September after an impressive second-round knockout of Phillip Latu. Then the 27-year-old went on to make his first walk against Tuko Tokkos, where he earned a unanimous decision win.
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In his eyes, Stirling believes he has it all, from the looks to the personality to the fighting skills to not only be the best in the light heavyweight division, but also someone who brings diversity to the weight class.
“The way I fight is a whole lot different than any other fighter I’ve seen,” Stirling said “I've watched guys in the back when I was here for Israel and I was like ‘Man, these are the guys that are above me? I'm meant to be there. I'll pick these guys off easy.’ I always said that to myself, but now it's I can actually live that and I can actually call these guys out and fight them today.”
The journey is just beginning for Stirling as he prepares to face Croatia’s Ivan Erslan, who also enters his second UFC fight. Erslan comes into the matchup with loads more experience than Stirling, having been competing in professional mixed martial arts since 2015, and holding a record of 14-4, 1 NC.
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The matchup between these two heavy hitters should be fun, as 10 of Erslan’s 14 wins have been by knockout and Stirling has four out of six wins by knockout. Despite the experience the Croatian has, Stirling holds all the confidence in the skills he brings into the matchup.
“He has everything to put you on your heels in a fight, however, I don't think he has it for anyone like me, like my style, the way I'm able to break guys down,” Stirling said. “I can fight in close and long. I've got such a varied skill set. I like to take guys down, defend. I can defend takedowns. I can get up from my back. I have the urgency in the right areas at the right time and I also can be disciplined as well and can create chaos from nothing. I really feel like I've got the big edge in this fight.”
After picking up a big knockout, many fighters would want to come out and earn another highlight reel finish. But for Stirling, getting the experience in his last fight and going the full 15 minutes in the Octagon allowed him to show the fans more of his skill set. On Saturday night, he is eager to show off more of his abilities and wants to put on a spectacular fight.
He wants to break Erslan down piece by piece and show fans the potential he has in this sport.
“I'm ready to go toe-to-toe with anybody,” Stirling said. “I don't really care. I'm looking to be an active fighter. I'm young. I'm trying to utilize my youth, and I've got this insatiable hunger for the sport right now, and I’m hoping to make fans happy through fighting, not talking.”
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