Jiří Procházka will face Navajo Stirling on Saturday, November 21, 2026, in the main event of UFC Qatar at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena in Doha. The UFC confirmed the five-round light heavyweight bout on Tuesday, September 29, alongside eight other fights for the night.
Number 2 Against Number 5
In the official UFC rankings updated on Saturday, September 26, Jiří Procházka sits second at light heavyweight behind Magomed Ankalaev. Navajo Stirling is fifth. Alex Pereira (third) and Khalil Rountree Jr. (fourth) sit between them. The belt belongs to Carlos Ulberg.
Their records point in opposite directions. The 33-year-old Czech holds 32 wins, 6 losses and 1 draw across 39 professional fights, with 28 wins by knockout. The 28-year-old New Zealander is unbeaten in 11 fights. Procházka has more than three times as many fights as his opponent, who has yet to fight a five-round bout.
Procházka After the Ulberg Knockout
The former champion returns from a quick defeat. On April 11, 2026, at UFC 327, he was knocked out at 3:45 of the first round by Carlos Ulberg in a bid to regain the light heavyweight title.
Before that, he had two third-round stoppage wins: over Jamahal Hill at UFC 311 on January 18, 2025, and over Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 320 on October 4, 2025. He won the UFC belt in 2022 at UFC 275 by submitting Glover Teixeira, then vacated it through injury. His two losses to Alex Pereira, in November 2023 and June 2024, are the other landmarks of his UFC run.
Doha will be his first fight in seven months. A win over the fifth-ranked contender would keep him in the race for a rematch with Ulberg.
Stirling: Six UFC Wins and a Fast Rise
Navajo Stirling has trained at City Kickboxing in Auckland under Eugene Bareman since 2021. He earned his UFC contract on September 10, 2024, on Dana White’s Contender Series with a first-round knockout of Phillip Latu.
His first three UFC fights went the distance: Tuco Tokkos in December 2024, Ivan Erslan at UFC 315 in May 2025 and Rodolfo Bellato in September 2025. The next three ended early: Bruno Lopes by second-round TKO on March 28, 2026, Ion Cuțelaba by second-round TKO on June 20, 2026, and Jan Błachowicz on August 1, 2026, at UFC Belgrade.
That last fight changed his standing. Called in on short notice to replace Bogdan Guskov, he stopped the former Polish champion by TKO at 2:56 of the first round, after a straight right put him down and a flurry of elbows and punches followed. Ranked 12th in June, he is fifth today. After the fight, he named Khalil Rountree Jr. as the opponent he wanted next.
The Rest of the UFC Qatar Card
The UFC announced nine bouts for the event, which streams on Paramount+. Among them:
- Aljamain Sterling vs. Kevin Vallejos, featherweight
- Dan Hooker vs. Brian Ortega, lightweight
- Asu Almabayev vs. Kyoji Horiguchi, flyweight
- Amir Albazi vs. Alessandro Costa, flyweight
- Jared Cannonier vs. Ikram Aliskerov, middleweight
- Aleksandre Topuria vs. Santiago Luna, featherweight
- Shamil Gaziev vs. Tallison Teixeira
Brian Ortega returns after withdrawing from UFC 331 with an eye injury. Aleksandre Topuria is the brother of former two-division UFC champion Ilia Topuria. Aljamain Sterling, a former bantamweight champion, is chasing a title shot at featherweight.
What the Result Could Change at Light Heavyweight
The two men ranked just above Stirling both connect to Procházka: he beat Rountree in 2025 and lost twice to Pereira. A win for the New Zealander would give him the biggest name on his record and put him in the title conversation against Carlos Ulberg. A Procházka win would secure his second place and revive the case for a rematch.
Upcoming dates are on our UFC 2026 schedule and the latest outcomes on the UFC results page.
