Bigger and Better, Silva Demolishes Irvin

By Thomas Gerbasi

LAS VEGAS, July 19 –UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva didn’t see his pound for pound crown tarnished at all in his UFC light heavyweight debut against James Irvin tonight at The Pearl at The Palms. Instead, his 61 second knockout win showed that if anything, he’s getting better and more fearsome with each outing.

“I’m a Muay Thai fighter, I’ve been doing it since I was a kid,” said Silva. “I didn’t come up to the 205-pound division to disrespect any fighters, but if you stand up and exchange Muay Thai, this is what happens.”

After the ritual touch of gloves, both fighters traded kicks to start the festivities. A few tense moments later, Irvin fired a right kick to the side which Silva caught. ‘The Spider’ proceeded to fire a right hand straight down the pipe at Irvin that landed flush and put him on his back. Silva pounced with a series of shots, but just when ‘The Sandman’ appeared to be weathering the storm, a final right hand knocked him out at the 1:01 mark.

It was yet another clip for Silva’s highlight reel, but when it comes to a permanent stay at light heavyweight, the pride of Curitiba still wants to take care of business at 185 pounds unless bigger fights present themselves.

“This was my first time coming up here and it was a good experience,” said Silva. “But my responsibility is to defend the 185-pound title.”

With the win, Silva improves to 22-4. Irvin falls to 14-5 with 1 no contest.