Jan Blachowicz gave his first public statement after Navajo Stirling stopped him in the UFC Belgrade co-main event and left him with a cut under his left eye.
The bout took place Saturday, August 1, 2026, inside Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia. The official result was Stirling def. Blachowicz by TKO at 2:56 of round one.
Blachowicz’s visible statement read:
“It is what it is. Another one for the collection. #LegendaryPolishPower”
The images in the statement showed the cut before treatment and after stitches. Stirling created the damage after dropping Blachowicz near the fence and following with elbows and punches from top position.
It is what it is.
Another one for the collection. pic.twitter.com/iw0QYQrLBK— Jan Blachowicz (@JanBlachowicz) August 2, 2026
How The Finish Happened
Blachowicz opened behind his jab, but Stirling landed the cleaner right hand when the exchange tightened. Once Blachowicz hit the canvas, Stirling stayed heavy enough to prevent a reset and forced Marc Goddard to step in before the midway point of the round.
The matchup followed Stirling’s short-notice acceptance after the original booking changed. Blachowicz had also been part of the recent short-notice Ankalaev discussion before UFC Belgrade settled on Stirling.
Blachowicz’s Recent Run
The loss dropped Blachowicz to 29-12-2 and moved Stirling to 11-0. Blachowicz has not won since his third-round TKO over Aleksandar Rakic at UFC Vegas 54 in May 2022.
Since the Rakic win, Blachowicz has gone through the Magomed Ankalaev draw, the Bogdan Guskov draw, and decision losses to Alex Pereira and Carlos Ulberg. He previously said his career would not end after knee surgery when he targeted a fall return.
Blachowicz won the vacant UFC light heavyweight title by knocking out Dominick Reyes at UFC 253 in September 2020. He defended it against Israel Adesanya at UFC 259, then lost the belt to Glover Teixeira at UFC 267 in October 2021.
