One of the most electric risers on the light heavyweight ladder will have to take down a former champion if he wants to continue his climb to the top.
The full card for Nov. 21's UFC Fight Night in Qatar was announced Tuesday, and a showdown between emerging star Navajo Stirling and former champ Jiri Prochazka is lined up as the main event.
Stirling, 28, has made an immediate impact since earning a UFC contract on Dana White's Contender Series in 2024, winning six straight bouts over the past two years. Overall, Stirling has an 11-0 record in pro MMA and is 6-0 in the UFC.
Though his first three wins came courtesy of the judges' scorecards, he showed off his finishing ability in his three most recent wins, capped off by a TKO of former champ Jan Błachowicz in the co-main event of UFC Belgrade in August — a win that earned him a performance of the night bonus.
Prochazka, meanwhile, will look to get back to championship contender status after his most recent loss to Carlos Ulberg at UFC 327, where he was unable to claim the vacant light heavyweight belt.
The 33-year-old has had an up-and-down run near the top of the light heavyweight division since first vacating the belt back in 2022. He went on to lose a fight for the belt to Alex Pereira at UFC 295, and in their rematch at UFC 303, Pereira forced a stoppage once more to take his claim atop the 205-pound class.
The November card will be the second-ever Fight Night in Qatar, the first coming on Nov. 22, 2025, headlined by a fight between Arman Tsarukyan and Dan Hooker.
Here's a look at the announced fights for the card:
-- Jiri Prochazka vs. Navajo Stirling
-- Aljamain Sterling vs. Kevin Vallejos
-- Dan Hooker vs. Brian Ortega
-- Asu Almabayev vs. Kyoji Horiguchi
-- Jared Cannonier vs. Ikram Aliskerov
-- Aleksandre Topuria vs. Santiago Luna
-- Shamil Gaziev vs. Tallison Teixeira
-- Amir Albazi vs. Alessandro Costa
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