A piece of history and a measure of revenge both came swiftly for Stipe Miocic.
The American has beaten Junior Dos Santos with a technical knockout at 2min 22sec in the first round to defend his heavyweight title at UFC 211 on Saturday night.
In the co-main event, Joanna Jedrzejczyk of Poland scored a unanimous, five-round decision win over third-ranked Jessica Andrade to defend her women's strawweight championship.
Since the heavyweight division was formed in 1997, only Miocic, Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia, Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar have won two title defences.
Miocic made it five-straight wins to avenge a loss to former champion Dos Santos in December 2014.
Miocic (17-2) stunned Dos Santos midway through the first round with a hard right that dropped the Brazilian and he fired away with a series of lefts that ended the fight.
"We've been working on that for 10 weeks," Miocic said of the critical punch.
"My coaches are the best in the world. If it wasn't for my coaches, we wouldn't be here right now."
The fourth-ranked Dos Santos (18-5), who'd hurt Miocic with multiple kicks, called the loss "terrible."
"I know he likes to walk forward, and I like to walk backwards," he said.
"The last kick I threw, he felt a lot, and I felt I did well. 'Now, I have to move'. Then, I don't remember anymore."
As for who's next, Miocic said, "Right now, it's my kitchen. The kitchen when I get home. That's all I'm worried about."
Will Miocic become the first UFC heavyweight to defend his title three times?
"He's looking like the man," UFC president Dana White said.
"Cleveland's killing it right now."
Jedrzejczyk (14-0) has defended her title five times since defeating Carla Esparza in March 2015. That ties Ronda Rousey for the most title victories among UFC women.
"I didn't even know," Jedrzejczyk said.
"This is amazing. I respect Ronda so much as a fighter but more as a human.
"It's a pleasure for me to stand next to Ronda in this category."
The explosive Andrade (16-6) pressed throughout the fight but didn't come close to matching Jedrzejczyk's output and technical superiority.
"The strategy was to fight her and take her down at the end of the rounds," the Brazilian said via a translator.
"But, as everybody saw, she's really good. I couldn't manage to keep her down."
Demian Maia, the third-ranked welterweight, won a split decision over No. 5 Jorge Masvidal. Maia, 25-6 with seven-straight wins, said he was told afterward by White that he had earned a title fight with Tyron Woodley.
Frankie Edgar, The 35-year-old former lightweight champion and second-ranked featherweight, beat seventh-ranked Yair Rodriguez, 24, with a second-round TKO.
The first bout for former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez since he lost the title to Conor McGregor last November was controversially adjudged a no-contest late in the second round against Dustin Poirier, because of an accidental foul.
The third-ranked Alvarez delivered an illegal left knee to Poirier's head while Poirier's hands were in contact with the mat - his subsequent blurred vision was judged inadequate for the fight to continue.
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