King in the Ring champion Navajo Stirling is taking the next step on his journey to the UFC after achieving everything he could in his three-and-a-half year fighting career in Wellington.
Winning his King in the Ring title in Auckland last year put Stirling in the company of some of New Zealand's elite fighters including UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, and the likes of Dan Hooker and Carlos Ulberg.
The 23-year-old boasts a number of belts on his resume including the titles of 2020 King in the Ring 92kg Super Cruiserweight Champion, WBC New Zealand Professional Heavyweight Muay Thai Champion, WKA New Zealand Professional Heavyweight Muay Thai Champion, WKN World Professional Heavyweight K1 Champion and the NZMF North Island Amateur Heavyweight Champion.
He's now taking the next step in his journey, leaving Wellington's Lion Pit gym to move to Auckland with the aim of following in the footsteps of City Kickboxing Gym's current crop of MMA stars.
Stirling leaves the Lion Pit gym with a professional record of 6 wins and 1 loss - with two of his wins coming via knockout.
His brother Shaquille trains at City Kickboxing and now Navajo's aiming to join the set-up run by revered trainer Eugene Bareman.
"The boys that are doing it now for New Zealand, Israel Adesanya and all of them they're paving the way for New Zealand and for me, they've given me a lot of confidence knowing that there is a path out of this country to the UFC," Stirling said.
Navajo Stirling after winning King in the Ring Photo: Supplied, The Lion Pit gym
While his move is just the next step in his career, looking to the future Stirling isn't just aiming to make it to the UFC, he wants to become one of MMA's all-time greats.
"For me, it's not just being in the UFC, I want to be the best that I can ever be and for me being honest I think I can go much further," he said, "I see myself taking titles, being a superstar, having multiple championship belts."
A talented kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter, Stirling has been working hard on developing other aspects of his skillset including grappling and Jiujitsu.
He will be looking to wrap all of these disciplines into one skillset as he transitions into MMA and says he'd like to model his style on one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in UFC history.
"I don't want to be known as just a striker I want to have great weapons everywhere. Someone who I'd like to imitate my style on is Jon Jones, seeing how he can get out of trouble really fast through his striking or his wrestling, that's a goal for me," he said.
It's not just physical skills Stirling is working on as recently he added a mental performance coach to his team to improve his awareness and reactions so he can enter a 'flow state' while fighting.
New Zealand's latest fighter to have debuted in the UFC, Carlos Ulberg, took an alternative route to join the fighting organization competing in the Dana White Contender Series.
The Contender Series is an invitational competition aimed at testing emerging talents in the octagon - with those who impress, like Ulberg, rewarded with UFC contracts.
Stirling said that he would gladly follow the same route as Ulberg and believes he would hold his own in the series.
"Seeing these guys with low experience on the contender series they've only had three or four fights, when I see their skills I'm like come on man," he said,
"Especially in my division there's not a big skill gap in the light heavyweight division and I feel like I'd run through those guys in the contender series."
It's clear Stirling isn't short of confidence and he credits Israel Adesanya for showing New Zealand athletes they don't need conform to our reputation as a humble nation.
"We have that tall poppy syndrome and I'm glad to see we have someone who's broken out of that and is showing everyone else in New Zealand that people want you to be humble to make themselves feel good. I don't like that, I'm sick of that, that's all the stuff I was fed growing up you know - that's rubbish."
Stirling has a unique look when it comes to fight nights and this is no coincidence, he wants people to remember his name.
Coming into each fight with freshly bleached blonde hair he explains it isn't just a fashion statement but a calculated move made to accelerate his rise through New Zealand's fighting scene.
"I started doing that because I wanted to get myself out there fast. I think dying my hair blonde put everyone on notice quick....word of mouth is a lot easier when people are hearing 'Who's the big blonde guy?'"
Of Te Whanau a Apanui iwi and growing up in Upper Hutt, Stirling played rugby for most of his life but eventually got tired of the sport's reliance on teammates.
While attending Upper Hutt College, many of his peers found themselves getting into street fights and after school brawls but Stirling managed to stay out of trouble and found himself taking up local Karate classes in a nearby school gym.
However, it wasn't until he started watching the UFC years later that he decided to immerse himself in martial arts.
After doing some training while living in Christchurch, Stirling returned to Wellington and began kickboxing training under two-time King in the Ring champion, Sonne Vannathy, at Arch Angels Thai Kickboxing Gym.
Under Vannathy, Stirling trained at a high level from the outset - unfortunately, this didn't do him any favors finding fights in the relatively small talent pool in Wellington's combat sports scene.
With nobody willing to fight him at novice level due to his skill and stature, he moved straight into amateur bouts before moving to the Lion Pit gym in Wellington where he began fighting at a professional level.
Stirling put together an impressive fighting resume during his three-and-a-half years in Wellington all while working full-time as a storeman and although he's aiming to make a living through fighting, he said theirs value to be found in the struggle of balancing work and fighting.
"A lot of guys want that pro-life and they haven't been through that struggle yet so I feel like working and figuring that out has a power in itself that's given me a lot of confidence knowing I can work through a job and through this fighting stuff."
It's clear Stirling doesn't shy away from hard work and he's happy to keep his head down until it pays dividends - something he will continue to do as he continues his journey to his UFC dream.
