UFC 156: Alistair Overeem knocked out by Antonio Silva

Alistair Overeem stood at the opening where fighters first enter the arena from backstage and soaked it in. Thousands of fans making noise inside of Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, awaiting his walk toward the octagon followed by his work inside the cage.

He paused, put his monstrous arms in the air and kept with the beat of his entrance music as if summoning more excitement from the crowd to help him walk to the cage to fight fellow heavyweight Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva at UFC 156 on Saturday night.

That was the extent of excitement Overeem offered those fans in attendance and those watching on television.

After two relatively uneventful rounds, Silva opened the third round throwing and landing punches and scoring the TKO victory over Overeem 25 seconds into the final round.

"Fight to win inside the cage, not outside," said Silva, a reference to the lack of respect Overeem showed toward him during the lead-up to the fight. "I told him at the press conference I will make him respect me."

It was Overeem's first fight in 13 months and three days because of a suspension. It was the first knockout of Overeem (36-12) in more than five years.

Overeem exhibited little respect for Silva (18-4) during the fight as well. It wasn't until the second round when the grounded Silva landed two elbows to Overeem's head that Overeem starting to throw significant strikes from his dominant position.

But Silva gave him no such opportunity as the third round opened, landing several uppercuts as Overeem had his back against the cage. Overeem, stunned by the shots, dropped his hands and Silva teed off with lefts and rights until Overeem collapsed to the ground and referee Herb Dean ended the bout.

“After I knocked him out," Silva said, "I was yelling at him ‘Let’s go! I want more… come fight!’"