There was a mixed martial arts showdown Saturday night between two rival organizations, but the proverbial line in the sand didn’t occur in an octagon or a ring.

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The battle lines were clearly drawn on Tropicana Avenue in Las Vegas, Nevada on the opposing marquee signs in front of the Palms Casino and the Gold Coast Casino. The Palms Casino had the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s UFC Fight Night 14 in front of a sellout crowd of 2,100 at The Pearl, while the Gold Coast was hosting a closed-circuit pay-per-view event across the street concerning the Affliction: Banned card in Anaheim, California.

Both main events featured huge favorites and dominating first-round victories, continuing the debate for the best pound-for-pound mixed martial arts fighter on the planet. At UFC Fight Night 14, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva needed just one minute and one second to record a technical knockout victory over James ‘The Sandman’ Irvin in a light heavyweight contest. Silva, the UFC middleweight champion, cashed tickets as a decided $6.00 favorite (bet $600 to win $100), to run his record to 22-4, while Irvin’s record dropped to 14-5-1.

“I was confident going into the fight,” said Silva through translator Ed Soares in the postfight press conference. “I am very happy about the win, but now I’m looking forward to getting back to training and defend my 185-pound title.”

The fight ended shortly after Irvin delivered a body kick to the Brazilian. Silva caught his right leg, and connected with a straight right hand just under Irvin’s eye. From there, ‘The Spider’ rained down eight shots to a downed Irvin before the fight was stopped by referee Mario Yamasaki.

The Affliction: Banned main event lasted just 36 seconds, and saw $3.70 ‘chalk’ Fedor ‘The Last Emperor’ Emelianenko submit former UFC heavyweight champion Tim ‘The Maine-iac’ Sylvia (26-6) by rear naked choke. Fedor improved his record to 28-1, but there was some concern heading into this fight about ring rust. The dominant Russian had fought just four times the past two years heading into Saturday’s contest.

“Tim Sylvia was a real opponent for Fedor,” said UFC President Dana White. “I still believe that Anderson Silva is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”

The biggest numbers concerning the two organizations will ultimately not be determined by the length of their main events, but by television ratings and pay-per-view numbers. Affliction: Banned offered Fedor and four former UFC heavyweight champions on its debut promotion, while the UFC countered with a free show on Spike TV.

While the UFC Fight Night 14 main event offered plenty of fireworks during a short time frame, the two preceding bouts went to the judges’ scorecards. Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera (9-2) won an uninspiring unanimous decision over Reese Andy (7-3), 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. VegasInsider.com also scored the contest in favor of Vera, 30-27. ‘The Truth’ ended a personal two-fight losing streak, and won his initial foray into the light heavyweight division. Unlike Silva, Vera plans on remaining in this stacked weight class after moving down from the heavyweight division.

The fight just before the Vera-Andy bout also went to the scorecards, with Frankie Edgar (9-1) earning a unanimous decision over Hermes Franca (18-7), 30-27 on all three cards. VI also scored the fight in favor of Edgar, 30-27. Edgar showed some impressive submission defense, while Franca was returning to the octagon for the first time in a year after serving a suspension for testing positive for steroids.

**Octagon Extras**

-There was controversy at the end of the Kevin Burns-Anthony Johnson welterweight matchup. Burns ended up winning at 3:35 of the third round by technical knockout, but really won by eye poke. Johnson was well on his way to winning the fight, winning the first two rounds on all three judges’ scorecards. Late in the third round, Burns accidently poked Johnson in the eye and then missed with an uppercut. Johnson fell to the ground from the eye poke, and Burns jumped on him with another shot before the fight was stopped.

-Luckily, I was sitting near former Nevada State Athletic Commissioner Marc Ratner during the bout. He told me fights are not subjected to instant replay, but he said he would introduce legislation sometime in the future to prevent another Burns-Johnson type of incident.

Brad Young can be reached at byoung@vegasinsider.com.