{"id":488629,"date":"2026-06-21T16:14:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T16:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/488629\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T16:14:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T16:14:23","slug":"ufc-navajo-stirling-claims-second-round-win-over-ion-cutelaba-on-the-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/488629\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC: Navajo Stirling claims second-round win over Ion Cutelaba \u2013 On The Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">Cutelaba has been plying his trade in the UFC for the last decade, largely operating as a gatekeeper to the upper echelon of the division. For fighters wanting to get a shot at the light heavyweight rankings, Cutelaba is likely to feature on their radar on the way. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">Calling Cutelaba out after his most recent win, Stirling got the test he was looking for. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">The Moldovan was able to work his grappling early, looking to have a good guillotine choke all but locked in within 90 seconds of the opening bell. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">Stirling showed patience and composure, however, fending off a number of submission attempts and working his way back to his feet where he was able to let his hands go. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">But after an evenly poised opening round, Stirling simply outlasted Cutelaba. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">Midway through the second round, Cutelaba scored a takedown but was unable to keep Stirling down. As the Kiwi got to his feet, Cutelaba remained seated on the canvas, covering up with his back to the cage. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">Stirling got straight to work with a barrage of punches, ultimately forcing the referee to end the fight. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI told everyone that I was the next big thing. They all thought I was all s***, but they can come and fraud check these nuts because I am the f***ing real deal,\u201d Stirling said in his post-fight interview. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI can scramble my ass off. I do it all the time at the gym so I know, no matter what, I\u2019m not afraid to get taken down because I\u2019m going to get back up. He had some good submission attempts but I just had to stay strong and keep tight. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI knew I was going to get on top. I wrestle all the time. These ears aren\u2019t painted on. I wrestle all the time so I had to show everyone.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">Now 5-0 in the UFC with finishes in his last two appearances, Stirling looks settled on the biggest stage in mixed martial arts and said he hoped to get back to work in October. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHonestly the division\u2019s all over the place. I don\u2019t care who it is, I just want to fight. Maybe October next. It could be anyone; [Alonzo] Menifield, [Mingyang] Zhang, [Dustin] Jacoby, anyone. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThose are the guys I\u2019m thinking are around my level so we\u2019ll see what the UFC want to do and what my team want to do but just know I want to get back in there.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/author\/christopher-reive\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Christopher Reive<\/a> joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cutelaba has been plying his trade in the UFC for the last decade, largely operating as a gatekeeper&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1863,2562,243687,6097,1342,29368,186779,111,139,69,90,1523,186780,4739,213,81988,19554,223,14005,4306,810,6027],"class_list":["post-488629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-back","tag-claims","tag-cutelaba","tag-down","tag-five","tag-ion","tag-navajo","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-over","tag-secondround","tag-six","tag-sports","tag-stirling","tag-taken","tag-the","tag-times","tag-ufc","tag-up","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}