James Lee Irvin[1] (born September 12, 1978) is a retired American professional mixed martial artist, who was a professional competitor from 2003 to 2012, Irvin is the former WEC Heavyweight Champion and has also competed in the UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator and KSW.

Irvin was born in Huntington Beach and attended Del Oro High School in Loomis, California, where he played football.

Irvin's football career continued at Azusa Pacific University, which he attended on an athletic scholarship.

[4] When the UFC's middleweight champion Anderson Silva was to make his light-heavyweight division debut, Irvin became his opponent after four other fighters had already declined.

[5] UFC: Silva vs Irvin was intentionally scheduled for July 19, 2008 in order to conflict with the pay-per-view broadcast of Affliction: Banned.

At about one minute into the first round, Silva caught a kick dealt by Irvin and knocked him down with a straight right hand.

[10] Irvin was scheduled to return at UFC 98 against Drew McFedries, making his debut as a middleweight.

[12] Irvin injured his knee, forcing him out of a planned middleweight fight against Wilson Gouveia at UFC 102.

Irvin then returned to light heavyweight and faced Igor Pokrajac on August 1, 2010 at UFC on Versus 2.

Irvin next faced Jorge Oliveira on December 2, 2010 at "Tachi Palace Fights 7: Deck the Halls".

[15] James Irvin next fought Mike Crisman at Gladiator Challenge Young Guns 4 on January 29, 2011 with special guest Ken Shamrock serving as the referee.

With Crisman unable to continue, the fight was ruled a no contest because Shamrock judged that the illegal knee was unintentional.

[17] Houston Alexander revealed that he will face Irvin at Shark Fights 14 on March 11 in Lubbock, Texas.

[21] James has re-located his training to the UFC gym in Corona, and expects to return to action by December 2 when his suspension is lifted.

A late replacement for a previous unknown opponent, Mike LaFlair was not of the same caliber as Irvin and was mercifully taken down early and submitted at 1:22 of the first round.