Jan Blachowicz has a new problem to solve in Belgrade, and it’s an undefeated one.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion was set to rematch Bogdan Guskov on August 1 at Belgrade Arena, but Guskov got pulled to replace Khalil Rountree against Magomed Ankalaev in the UFC Fight Night 282 headliner on July 25 in Abu Dhabi. The UFC announced Friday that Navajo Stirling steps in instead.
It’s a rough draw. Blachowicz, 29-11-2, is winless in his last four and hasn’t had his hand raised since stopping Aleksandar Rakic in May 2022. His most recent outing was a majority draw with Guskov at UFC 323 in December.
Stirling, 10-0, is going the other direction entirely. The 28-year-old City Kickboxing product will fight for the third time in five months, coming off the biggest win of his career, a second-round TKO of Ion Cutelaba at UFC Fight Night 279 in June.
The UFC Serbia lineup now looks like this:
- Uros Medic vs. Daniel Rodriguez
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Navajo Stirling
- Ante Delija vs. Johnny Walker
- Aleksandar Rakic vs. Marcin Tybura
- Max Gimenis vs. Jovan Leka
- Vlasto Cepo vs. Gilbert Urbina
- Dusko Todorovic vs. Robert Valentin
- Ludovit Klein vs. Tofiq Musayev
- Oban Elliott vs. Michael Oliveira
- Noah Gugnon vs. Milos Janicic
- Stephanie Luciano vs. Marina Spasic
- Kyle Prepolec vs. Mateusz Rebecki
UFC Fight Night 283 streams on Paramount+.
