Navajo Stirling left UFC Fight Night 279 with his perfect record intact and a new target in mind, calling for a matchup with Dustin Jacoby after stopping Ion Cutelaba by TKO in the co-main event at Meta APEX.
Stirling moved to 10-0 professionally and 5-0 in the UFC with the victory, then outlined a list of veterans he’s interested in facing next, including Zhang Mingyang, Alonso Menifield, Modestas Bukauskas and Jacoby, with Jacoby standing out as his preferred option.
"I think out of those four, I feel like Jacoby would be a cool matchup," Stirling said, highlighting what intrigues him about the former Glory kickboxer. "He was a Glory kickboxer. He was very tidy on the feet – a complete different puzzle to solve compared to Ion, who was just very aggressive, just looking to get in your face. Jacoby is just a little bit more smarter on his work, so I like the style matchup and just the technicality of it all. I feel he would be an interesting fight."
The City Kickboxing product also reflected on the new challenges he faced against Cutelaba. "I knew this would be a good test, and it put me in some spots that I'd never been in before," Stirling said. "I've never actually been put on the mat before, so it was the first time defending submissions and having to scramble up from my feet, from the bottom. So yeah, it was nice to bank all of that."
