Rafael dos Anjos defends UFC lightweight title in Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. — Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone has had such a problem with slow starts throughout his career, he even made a joke about it Thursday during the final media appearance before his Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title bout against champion Rafael dos Anjos.

He wasn't laughing Saturday night.

Cerrone once again stumbled out of the gate and this time he never recovered as dos Anjos retained the belt with a first-round knockout in the main event of UFC on Fox 17 at Amway Center.

Dos Anjos hurt Cerrone in the opening minutes the first time they matched up back in 2013. That night, Cerrone was able to endure the trouble and find late success before eventually losing a unanimous decision.

Dos Anjos made sure to finish the job in the rematch, his first defense of the belt he won in March.

"My coaches said we have 25 minutes to win the fight, but don't miss an opportunity," dos Anjos said.

Dos Anjos jumped on Cerrone almost immediately, landing a crushing body kick followed by a series of punches against the cage that had the challenger rocked.

Cerrone staggered away, but dos Anjos pursued and continued the attack. A stunned Cerrone leaned forward to try for a takedown, but dos Anjos pushed him to the ground and landed right hands until referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight after just 1:06.

"It sucks. I didn't show up to work. Couldn't find my gear," Cerrone said. "He showed up and I didn't. He did a good job of doing what he had to do to keep his belt.

Dos Anjos said the victory was validation for those who still doubted him after he took the belt from Anthony Pettis.

"I'm so happy. I just proved that I'm here to stay," he said. "All the people that said these other guys would destroy me, I'm here with my belt still."

Dos Anjos had not competed since winning the belt, largely because of the time he missed due to an injured knee. He said he hopes the quick finish Saturday will permit him to get back in the cage quickly.

"Since I won the title, I had an MCL injury and it took me four months to get better," he said. "I'm looking forward to coming back as soon as possible."

Cerrone couldn't find an answer to what went wrong.

"There is no excuse," he said. "Sometimes you just don't show up for work and in this business, that means you get your (expletive) kicked."

Also on the card, heavyweight Alistair Overeem knocked out former champ Junior dos Santos in the second round to earn his third straight victory.

Overeem, who has been training at Greg Jackson's famed camp in Albuquerque, N.M., executed a near-perfect game plan. He constantly circled the cage to prevent dos Santos from being able to move straight forward, which is how he is most effective.

Overeem said he felt dos Santos wanted to wait for him to make a mistake and he wasn't going to allow it to happen, which produced a first round in which both fighters were hesitant to attack.

"Junior is a very dangerous opponent. He throws bombs and he's strong, so we had to have a game plan and figure out his rhythm then slowly pick him apart. I had to figure him out. I feel confident with the team around me," Overeem said. "At the beginning, I felt like he wanted to slip my attacks and counter. He started to get more aggressive and I heard from my corner it was time to just throw it."

He landed a looping left hand that dropped dos Santos, then ended the fight with hammerfists on the ground.

Lightweight Nate Diaz delivered one of the best performances of his career in winning a unanimous decision over Michael Johnson.

After a back-and-forth first round, Diaz took control in the second when he started to gain confidence and stepped up the trash-talking and taunting for which he and his brother Nick are most well known.

It worked. Johnson allowed the fight to become a brawl, the type of fight Diaz loves.

"You can try to prepare for it, but until you actually get in there with him it's impossible," Johnson said. "He sucked me in."

Diaz said he held back a bit early to wear Johnson out.

"I planned on him coming out fast and hard, so I figured he'd probably slow down. I was just making sure I wasn't in a hurry and trying to make sure he didn't get too far ahead," Diaz said. "I heard my coach and my corner telling me to open up a bit more, so I was just coasting and trying to be smart instead of reckless."

Karolina Kowalkiewicz opened the main card by making a successful UFC debut with a unanimous decision over Randa Markos in a women's strawweight bout.

After missing weight Friday by five pounds, Charles Oliveira spoiled the featherweight debut of Myles Jury with a first-round submission in the featured bout on the preliminary card.

Middleweight Nate Marquardt knocked out C.B. Dollaway and Valentina Shevchenko earned a split decision over Sarah Kaufman in a women's bantamweight bout.

Tamdan McCrory, who came out of retirement last year to sign with Bellator Fighting Championships, returned to the UFC for the first time in more than six years with a third-round submission of middleweight Josh Samman.

Nik Lentz, Kamaru Usman, Vicente Luque and Francis Ngannou also picked up victories.

A featherweight bout between Cole Miller and Jim Alers was declared a no-contest after Miller was poked in the eye.

— Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him: @adamhilllvrj