Blackburn Victorious in UFC Debut

by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Jul 20, 2008 at 12:00 am ET

UFC Fight Night 14's main event offered little surprise as UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva successfully made his light-heavyweight debut with a quick first-round knockout of veteran fighter James Irvin.

The bout capped off Saturday's UFC Fight Night 14 event at The Palms Las Vegas, which aired live on Spike TV.

The event, a late booking put together to counter Saturday's debut event for Affliction Entertainment, concluded in predictable fashion as Silva, largely considered the world's top pound-for-pound fighter, easily disposed of Irvin in just 61 seconds.

Silva, who's stormed the UFC's middleweight division since taking the title from Rich Franklin in 2006, struck early and often. He ultimately checked a body kick and popped Irvin with a straightright. The blow forced Irvin to the mat, and after a barrage of follow-up punches from Silva, the bout was halted.

Silva, who will likely return to the middleweight division after tonight's victory, has been on the hunt for a challenge. After a proposed boxing match with Roy Jones Jr. was vetoed, Silva instead got the opportunity to move up a weight class.

But there was no challenge. The world's top fighter looked very much like it as he secured his eighth consecutive victory -- all via stoppage.

Many have long clamored for Brandon Vera's light-heavyweight debut, and though the move was met with victory over little-known UFC newcomer Andy Reese, there was only marginal success.

Vera looked flat, somewhat slow and was all but void of the explosiveness that carried him close to the top of the UFC's heavyweight division. The fight was booed for nearly the full 15 minutes as both Vera and Reese were slow to engage. The bout repeatedly stalled against the cage, and the pace only worsened as the fight wore on.

Vera did enough to earn the unanimous-decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 30-27), but he fell far short of making a splash in an already stacked division.

Rebounding from his first professional loss, Frankie Edgar picked up a unanimous-decision victory over former top contender Hermes Franca.

Franca, fighting for the first time since a failed drug test after a title loss to then-champ Sean Sherk last summer, looked flat in his comeback fight and was repeatedly taken down with ease.

Edgar, who suffered a loss to Gray Maynard earlier this year, rolled through submission attempts and connected on numerous punches that had Franca's face bruised and swollen. The victory was lopsided, but Franca forced it to a decision.

Edgar won it with 30-27 scores on all three judges' cards.

Highly touted heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez once again met grand expectations with a quick and dominant win over Jake O'Brien, a recently undefeated fighter now stuck in a two-fight losing streak.

After reversing his opponent's takedown attempt, Velasquez smoothly transitioned O'Brien into the crucifix position and rained down an all-too-long onslaught of punches. O'Brien looked as though he was knocked in and out of consciousness on multiple occassions until the stoppage mercifully came at 2:02 of the first round.

An entertaining bout between Anthony Johnson and Kevin Burns ended in controversial fashion after what appeared to be an accidental eye poke. After out-slugging Burns through the first two rounds, Johnson was forced to turtle up when he was blinded by a grazing left hook that caught his eye.

After some initial confusion, Burns was ultimately declared the winner via TKO stoppage at 3:35 of the third round. Referee Steve Mazzagatti's decision didn't go over well with a less-than-pleased crowd.

Humble in defeat, Johnson urged the crowd not too boo Burns, who's now 2-0 in the UFC after upsets of Roan Carneiro and Johnson.

Since disappointing back-to-back losses to eventual show winner Amir Sadollah, "The Ultimate Fighter 7" runner-up C.B. Dollaway secured a crafty submission victory with a win over Jesse Taylor.

After a few solid reversals, Dollaway took advantage of Taylor's four-point position to force the tap-out from a rare Peruvian necktie. The choke forced a stoppage at 3:57 of the first round.

Preliminary card

Tim Credeur def. Cale Yarbrough via TKO (strikes) -- Round 1, 1:54
Rory Markham def. Brodie Farber via KO (head kick) -- Round 1, 1:37
Nate Loughran def. Johnny Rees via submission (triangle choke) -- Round 1, 4:22
Shannon Gugerty def. Dale Hartt via submission (rear-naked choke) -- Round 1, 3:33
Brad Blackburn def. James Gaboo via TKO (strikes) -- Round 2, 2:29