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UFC middleweight champion Anderson (The Spider) Silva defeated James Irvin in 61 seconds Saturday night in his UFC light heavyweight debut at the Palms in Las Vegas.
Silva, the UFC’s 185-pound champion, was fighting for the first time at the higher weight class of 205 in a free UFC Fight Night to compete directly with a pay-per-view Affliction event. Irvin, who was coming off an eight-second TKO of Houston Alexander in his last fight, was on the wrong end of a quick knockout in this one.
In the last of an 11-bout card that included six on the televised portion, Silva and Irvin began by circling the ring looking for opportunities to strike. At just under the minute mark, Irvin attempted a right kick to the body of his southpaw opponent.
Silva, a Muay Thai kickboxing specialist, grabbed hold of the leg and then landed a hard right square to Irvin’s face, which he had left undefended. It sent him to the ground, and Silva then pounced, raining more than half a dozen blows to the side of his head as he tried to finish. A couple more solid punches to the front of Irvin’s face opened up a cut on his cheek and caused the referee stopped the fight. As Silva celebrated a win that further cemented his claim as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, blood was pouring out of Irvin’s cheek onto the mat.
After the fight the Brazilian Silva said through a translator, “My responsiblity is to defend the 185-pound title. But I want to be involved in the biggest fights. If it’s at 205, great.”
Earlier Brandon (The Truth) Vera, who was also fighting for the first time at 205, won a unanimous decision over Reese Andy in a mostly unexciting fight that drew boos. Vera, whose past fights have all been at the higher heavyweight division, said fighting at the lower weight class was a factor.
“The 205 cut was little bit more tough than I thought,” Vera said. “But I’ll be wherever the UFC wants me to be, heavyweight or 205.”
Lightweight Frankie (The Answer) Edgar rebounded after his first career loss with a win over Hermes Franca, who was fighting for the first time after serving a one-year suspension for a positive steroid test.
Edgar was caught by Franca in an armbar midway through the first round and he looked to be in trouble. But he was able to pull his arm free and reverse positions, and he spent the rest of the round either in the mount or in Franca’s guard, which Franca was playing loose.
In the second round, it was more of the same as Franca spent most of the time in open guard trying wrist control. Edgar employed some strong ground and pound, landing a number of shots to Franca’s head from dominant positions.
Edgar continued to frustrate his opponent in the third round as Franca looked for any opportunity to catch him with a submission. From his back, Franca was almost able to sweep Edgar with a minute left, but the American reversed him and momentarily got his back.
With 30 seconds to go and the fighters standing up, Franca landed a solid knee and the round ended with Edgar bleeding. But it was too little too late for Franca as all three scored the fight 30-27 in favour of Edgar.
Kevin Burns won by TKO when his opponent Anthony Johnson tapped out on the ground after taking a finger to the eye on an attempted jab by Kevin Burns. Referee Steve Mazzagatti had warned him about pokes to the eye previously, yet he was not disqualified.
Burns’ jab was followed by an uppercut that appeared to floor Johnson, which was what seemingly awarded him the TKO. But replays appeared to show the uppercut missed, and Johnson claimed he never felt it, instead saying the finger went in deep, which hurt and caused to be unable to see out of it.
Johnson was gracious, however, despite the controversial defeat.
“Everybody stop booing Kevin,” Johson said. “This is fight, things happen, so give the man his props. He fought me and he fought hard.”
In a battle of members of the past season’s The Ultimate Fighter, C.B. Dollaway wrapped up and submitted Jesse Taylor at 3:57 of the first round. Taylor, who was kicked off the reality show after filiming was completed due to inappropriate drunken behaviour, was getting his second chance at the UFC after losing his spot in the TUF finale against eventual winner Amir Sadollah. That was the spot that was subsequently taken by runner-up Dollaway.
Midway through the opening round, Taylor hit Dollaway with an illegal knee as Dollaway still had his knees on the ground. Referee Yves Lavigne halted the bout to warn Taylor about knees to a downed opponent and threatened to penalize or disqualify him if he did it again. He didn’t have another chance, as Dollaway was able to work jiu-jitsu on the ground and catch Taylor in a Peruvian necktie and induce the tap at 3:57.
Tim Credeur won by TKO over Cale Yarbrough at 1:54 of the first round in the other battle of TUF 7 castmates. The undercard fight was originally scheduled for the June 21 finale but was scrapped at the time.
