Uros Medic needed 30 seconds, Navajo Stirling stopped a former champion in the first round, and two separate submissions closed out the most finish-heavy card in UFC history on August 1 in Belgrade.
Reviewed by BJJ Gyms · Updated 2026-08-02
Figures drawn from UFC.com's official Belgrade results and Yahoo Sports' August 1, 2026 fight coverage.
UFC Belgrade did not need a full three rounds to make its point. Uros Medic opened the main card by finishing Daniel Rodriguez in just 30 seconds, and the pace never really let up from there. By the time the night ended, the card had produced the most first-round finishes of any event in UFC history, and the most finishes on a single card overall.
That kind of night is unusual even by MMA standards, where a handful of decisions almost always survive a full card. Belgrade's crowd got the opposite experience, watching fight after fight get settled before the midway point of round one.
Navajo Stirling took the Jan Blachowicz fight on less than three weeks' notice after a chain of injury withdrawals reshuffled the card, and he made the opportunity count. He dropped the former champion with a clean right hand and finished with elbows and punches at 2:56 of round one, pushing his own record to a perfect 11-0 across six straight UFC wins.
For Blachowicz, the loss extends a rough stretch. The 43-year-old has now gone 0-3-2 across his last five outings, and fans online were quick to call for retirement in the hours after the fight. Stirling, for his part, credited the mental side of preparation afterward, saying fighting starts in the head before it starts anywhere else, and he called out both Khalil Rountree Jr. and Paulo Costa as potential next steps toward a light heavyweight title shot.
Buried a little under the knockouts were two clean submission finishes. Robert Valentin spoiled Dusko Todorovic's homecoming in front of a Serbian crowd, catching him in a guillotine choke at 4:14 of round one. Later on the card, Noah Gugnon closed things out with a rear-naked choke in just 1:21, one of six total finishes that came by way of a tap rather than a stoppage.
A card that finish-heavy is a reminder that striking gets the highlight reels, but the guillotine and the rear-naked choke are still two of the most reliable finishing tools in the sport, whether the fight happens in a cage or on a gym mat during a Tuesday night sparring round.
Nights like this are a useful reminder of how much of a finish, standing or on the ground, comes down to positioning rather than raw power. Valentin and Gugnon did not out-muscle anyone; they got to a dominant position and closed the choke cleanly, the exact sequence a fundamentals class drills every week.
If watching two guillotines and a rear-naked choke on one card has you curious about how those positions actually feel from the top, that is exactly what a free trial class at a local BJJ or no-gi gym is for. Most academies will let you roll once before you commit to anything.
Here is the quick version of what actually happened and why it stands out.
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It produced the most first-round finishes on a single card in UFC history, along with the most total finishes on any card overall.
He improved to 11-0, including six straight wins since joining the UFC, after stopping Jan Blachowicz in round one.
No retirement has been announced. Fans called for it online after the fight left him at 0-3-2 in his last five outings.
Robert Valentin finished Dusko Todorovic with a guillotine choke, and Noah Gugnon closed the card with a rear-naked choke.