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.

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

Internationaler Kampfkunst und Kampfsport Kleinanzeiger