Medić Blitzes Rodriguez in 30 Seconds as Belgrade Sets Two UFC Records

The UFC's first trip to Serbia didn't so much start as detonate. UFC Fight Night: Medić vs. Rodriguez at Belgrade Arena on August 1 racked up 12 finishes, 10 of them in the opening round, breaking two promotional records on a night that barely gave the judges anything to do.

The headline act belonged to hometown favourite Uroš Medić, who needed all of 30 seconds to knock out Daniel Rodriguez in the main event. It's Medić's fourth consecutive first-round KO, a streak that now has him rapping on the door of the welterweight top 10 in one of the sport's deepest divisions. Rodriguez, ranked #15 at 20-5 and coming off a decision win over Kevin Holland, never got a foothold.

Stirling Answers the Doubters

The co-main was the biggest scalp of the night. New Zealand's Navajo Stirling walked in undefeated and walked out the same way, stopping former light heavyweight champion Jan Błachowicz in under three minutes. Stirling ate an early burst from one of the division's heaviest hitters, then landed a clean right hand that dropped Błachowicz before finishing on the mat.

For Stirling, now 10-0 with six knockouts and holding the #15 spot at light heavyweight, this is the marquee win his résumé was missing. Beating a former champ tends to reframe a prospect fast.

The Undercard Kept Pace

Gilbert Urbina got booed on his walkout and finished the argument in 61 seconds, stopping touted newcomer Vlasto Čepo. Urbina, 7-5, let the Slovakian rush in, cracked him with a combination on the charge, and closed with a short burst of ground-and-pound. Not bad for a man who'd lost to Medić himself by first-round KO last time out.

Serbia had another debutant to cheer, too. Nina Milošević stopped Hailey Cowan with a pair of body shots that folded the American on the canvas, moving to 9-1 and immediately looking like a name worth tracking at bantamweight. On a card built almost entirely of finishes, she picked a loud way to introduce herself.