Not many mixed martial arts fighters make their UFC debuts on a main card — Kiwi Navajo Stirling is one of the few.
Stirling, 27, steps into the Octagon at Tampa, Florida on Sunday to face British light-heavyweight Tuco Tokkos, who boasts a career 10-4 record across a variety of promotions, including a UFC debut defeat in May.
Fighting out of Auckland's renowned City Kickboxing Gym — home to UFC stalwarts Israel Adesanya, Dan Hooker, Kai Kara-France and Carlos Ulberg — the Upper Hutt native seems calm about the sudden step onto his sport's top stage, after impressing through Dana White's Contender Series.
"It's going the way I always imagined it to be," Stirling told 1News. "I'm here to show up and show out, show who I am... just to show I can talk about it and be about it.
"I've been trying to maximise every fight I've had, so I'm so used to pressure. I want to be a championship title fighter, so I have to talk about it and be about it.
"I've come a long, long way, but I always knew I was going to be here. I've done so many mental reps in my head, I'm so in tune with myself."
Sharing training facilities with luminaries like Adesanya, who have been there and done that at this level, has certainly helped prepare Stirling for his own arrival.
"It's definitely made things easier in terms of steering me clear of all the potholes they've run into in their time, things inside and outside the cage," he said. "They've also given me plenty of insight over the years into the lifestyle and what can come to you.
"I looked at it and wanted nothing more for myself. Give it all to me."
Unbeaten through five previous fights, he's well aware of the pressure that comes with the UFC call-up, but believes it is simply his destiny.
"They're definitely banking on me and there's not a lot of prospects that can live up to that, but I believe I can," he insists. "It makes sense.
"I was looking at the card, thinking we've seen these guys... let's get some fresh meat, some fresh looks.
"I'll just do what I always do — just go out there and be disciplined, be extremely sharp in the first round and the deeper the fight goes, the better I get."
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