Tampa – UFC light heavyweight Navajo Stirling made sure his fighting did all the talking when he took a decision victory over Tuco Tokkos at UFC Tampa on Saturday night.
Tokkos had not been so quiet in the lead up to the fight. He said Stirling, who trains at City Kickboxing in New Zealand, did not have the type of wrestling that he had.
“It’s something you always need to work on right? There’s so many levels of wrestling,” Stirling told Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“It was good to put some respect on City Kickboxing wrestling, and our little gym in New Zealand. We’re a country of 5 million. There’s more than 5 million in the state in America. So to come from a small country where we don’t have wrestling backgrounds, and to just defend his wrestling like it was nothing, some of the guys at my gym are better wrestler than him.”
Stirling (6-0) made his UFC debut in Tampa, but he fought a total of four times in 2024 including a Contender Series bout, and two fights with HEX Fight Series. He wants his 2025 to be just as busy.
“I would like to fight at least 3 minimum. It’s all about just keeping the injuries off me, staying healthy, that’s my goal every year,” he said.
“Being in the gym as much as I can, nursing injuries…the more time you have to spend on the mats it’s just the better you become.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Navajo Stirling above.
