As we prepared for an incendiary night, with light heavyweight opponents James Irvin and Houston Alexander face to face, the Octagon offered us the fastest K.O. in its history. Alexander only got to ‘taste’ the Octagon atmosphere for 8 whole seconds, before Irvin put a stop to the momentum and acquainted Alexander with the mat.

Short fight, as a strategic landing and two perfect punches made referee Steve Mazzagatti declare it a win for Irvin, to Alexander’s desperation. Irvin reached 14-4 after this fight, while Alexander got to 8-3. Irvin said after the quickest encounter of his Octagon life that those were the hardest punches he has ever thrown…and what an outcome it was.

The crowd started booing, and despite Alexander’s protests, the fight was over. After the fight, Alexander said he was conscious after Irvin’s punches, and if it weren’t for the referee’s intervention, the fight would have continued. He also said he didn’t feel Irvin’s punches, which sounds pretty “believable,” right? However unhappy Alexander may be, this was the fastest K.O. in the entire history, ever since Frye’s 1996 win over Thomas Ramirez at UFC 8.

In another encounter, Brazilian Thiago Alves put a stop to his opponent, Armenian Karo Parisyan, in the second round, after Alves managed to strike a left knee to Parisyan’s head, and continued with a series of punches that made referee Steve Mazzagatti halt the bout, to Parisyan’s disappointment.

Matt Hamill returned to the Octagon after the controversial loss to Michael Bisping, finishing Tim Boetsch in the second round of the encounter, while Nate Diaz defeated Kurt Pellegrino, after Diaz managed a chocking-fists move on his opponent, making him tap out at the 3:06 mark in the second round. In another fight, lightweight Frankie Edward met his first loss since in his pro career, in front of an unbeaten Gray Maynard.