James Irvin

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1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC Career
4 Mixed martial arts record
5 Gallery
6 External links

Profile

James "The Sandman" Irvin (born September 12, 1978) is an American professional mixed martial artist fighting out of Sacramento, California.

He stands 6 ft. 2 in. tall and fights in the middleweight division (185 lbs.).

Irvin is a former WEC heavyweight champion and currently fights as a middleweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

James Irvin made his professional mixed martial arts debut against Bo Cantrell at Gladiator Challenge 16 on June 1, 2003. He defeated Cantrell via TKO in the first round.

Irvin submitted his next opponent, Allen Scoville, with an armbar in just 2:42 of round 1 in August and then finished off 2003 with a TKO over Pete Werve in November.

At Gladiator Challenge 22, Irvin knocked out future TUF 4 and UFC competitor, Scott Smith in just 2:21 of the first round. That win was followed with a rematch with Bo Cantrell, who he dominated and knocked out again at 2:39 of round 1.

With the 5-0 start to his career, Irvin entered the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) organization and receieved an immediate shot at their vacant heavyweight championship. He scored a TKO over opponent, Jody Poff to claim the belt.

In his first defense of the title, Irvin KO'd Houssain Oushani in 2:27 of round 1.

UFC Career

In November of 2004, Irvin vacated his WEC championship to sign a contract with the UFC. In his debut at February 5's UFC 51 he faced the much larger Mike Kyle and suffered his first professional defeat when he was knocked out at 1:55 of round 1.

Following the loss, Irvin returned to the WEC for one fight, but in the light heavyweight division. He defeated his opponent, future WEC light heavyweight champion, Doug Marshall via KO at :45 of round 2.

With the bounce back victory over Marshall, Irvin faced Terry Martin in a light heavyweight match-up at UFC 54. After getting controlled in the first round by Martin on the ground, Irvin opened round two with a flying knee, right off the bat that put Martin unconscious.

In January of 2006, Irvin faced TUF 1 runner-up, Stephan Bonnar on the main card of UFC Fight Night 3. He was submitted by Bonnar with a Kimura at 4:30 of round 1.

Irvin headed back to the WEC for a tune-up fight to get his confidence back up. He faced another TUF 1 contestant in Lodune Sincaid and suffered a very disappointing decision loss.

In April, 2006 at an IFC event, Irvin halted the two fight slide with a unanimous decision victory over William Hill.

Irvin was given a shot at the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship at Strikeforce: Revenge on June 9, 2006 when he faced TUF 1's Bobby Southworth. In a strange and short bout, both fighters fell out the cage door just 17 seconds in and the fight was ruled a No Contest after Irvin was injured in the fall.

Three months later, Irvin submitted Gary LaFranchi in the first round to push his record up to 11-3.

The UFC called Irvin back up to fight at UFC 65 against friend, Hector Ramirez. In a predominantly stand-up fight, Irvin eventually got the better of Ramirez and put him away with a TKO in the second round.

At UFC 71, Irvin faced undefeated Brazilian, Thiago Silva. Just over a minute in, Irvin suffered a knee injury that forced the end of the fight, giving Silva the TKO victory.

Irvin recovered from the injury and made his return at UFC 79 against another undefeated Brazilian in Luiz Cane. At 1:51 of the first round, Cane landed an illegal knee that caught Irvin in the eye and rocked him. The fight was halted as doctors checked on Irvin. Eventually it was decided that Irvin could not continue and he was awarded the disqualification victory.

On April 2, 2008, Irvin faced Houston Alexander as the opening bout on the televised card of UFC Fight Night 13. In a fight that tied for the fastest knockout in UFC history, Irvin landed a superman punch in the first few seconds which knocked Alexander down. From there, Irvin followed up with three punches on the ground that forced that stoppage at just 8 seconds of round 1.

After UFC 85 suffered a number of changes to its main event, Irvin was called up to face Rashad Evans as a fill in for Chuck Liddell. However an injury to his foot forced his removal from the bout.

Instead, Irvin faced off against UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva in a light heavyweight bout as the main event of quickly put together, UFC Fight Night 14. It was Silva's first fight in the UFC light heavyweight division and Irvin hoped to make it his last. However, Silva caught an Irvin kick just under a minute in and landed a powerful right hand down the pipe which knocked Irvin down. Some follow up punches had the fight stopped at 1:01 of round 1.

Following the bout, Irvin was suspended for nine months for testing positive to methadone and oxymorphone.

Irvin's first fight since the suspension and his first fight in the middleweight division will come at UFC 98 when he faces Drew McFedries.