BROOMFIELD, Colo. — Nobody expected the light heavyweight bout between James Irvin and Houston Alexander at Ultimate Fight Night 13 on Wednesday to last long.

Both men love to brawl and have knockout power in both hands.
But what happened at the Broomfield Events Center was almost hard to believe. Irvin knocked Alexander down with a right hand and then landed two punches while Alexander was on his back.

Referee Steve Mazzagatti jumped in just eight seconds in and stopped it to a chorus of boos. It tied the mark for the fastest end to a UFC fight. Don Frye knocked out Thomas Ramirez at UFC 8 on Feb. 16, 1996.

Alexander wasn't pleased, but Irvin said he simply isn't aware of what had happened.

"He wasn't even looking at me," Irvin said. "I clipped him and he went down and I looked at his eyes and he was looking off to the right. He was bleeding out of both of his nostrils. He wasn't even looking at me. The third punch when he was down was the best punch of all of them."

Irvin raced across at the bell and threw a "Superman punch," jumping in the air while throwing the right.

It connected on the chin, knocking Alexander down. Irvin quickly went for the finish. His first punch missed, landing on the top of Alexander's back. He grazed Alexander with a right to the chin, then landed a hard right to the face.

That prompted Mazzagatti, who has made a number of controversial stoppages in other fights, to halt it.

Alexander complained instantly and seemed to be fine seconds after he got to his feet. In the locker room after the bout, he said he'd been hit harder many times.

"Just give me a chance," Alexander said. "I've been hit hard a lot of times in my life. I was OK. No excuses. I'm a professional. I got caught with a shot, but that's what this is about. But I definitely felt I could go on."

This marked the third consecutive bizarre finish to an Irvin fight. The Northern California-based light heavyweight won by disqualification over Luis Cane after getting kneed in the head while on the ground at UFC 79 in December, which was the first DQ in a UFc match since 2003; and a freak leg injury brought a halt to his UFC 71 loss to Thiago Silva last May.

"That's the story of my life," said Irvin. "I just told people I hoped it would be a good fight. Even in my interviews, I told people I didn't want a quick knockout. ... I've knocked people out in three or four of my fights, but it's all been by one shot. But at least I got this win and I can go back and train harder and hopefully get something against some of the big names."