Epping fighter Jake Matthew's rising UFC star was shot down in brutal fashion on Saturday, as he was stopped by opponent Kevin Lee in the first round at The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale, the curtain-raiser to Sunday's UFC 200.
Coming in to the fight, which was the featured bout on UFC Fight Pass, 21-year-old Matthews said he was confident of claiming victory over 23-year-old Lee at the Mandalay Bay Grand Garden Arena. 
That confidence, the same that has carried Matthews to a 4-1 record in the UFC, was shut down quickly by Lee, who demonstrated on the night he was clearly a cut above Matthews in almost every aspect.
Buoyed by his hometown crowd, Lee scored a takedown on Matthews within 30 seconds of the start of the fight.
Matthews fought his way back to his feet and had success with an elbow to Lee off the break, before landing a right head kick to the face, which had little impact on the tough Las Vegas fighter.
Matthews was shaken up by a big right hand from Lee that put his mouthguard out, and in slightly bizarre scenes the Melbourne fighter failed to protect himself, instead protesting to the Octagon referee Jason Herzog as Lee attacked before Herzog noticed the mouthguard and separated the pair.
Whether angered by Lee's actions or simply full of adrenaline, Matthews threw a wild right hand on the restart that Lee saw coming from a mile away, ducking under to take Matthews down yet again.
Lee took his back and from there it was only a matter of time as he battered away at Matthews' head.
Referee Herzog gave Matthews plenty of time to escape but Lee was stuck firmly to his back, flattening out the Australian while landing powerful punches, forcing Herzog to stop the bout.
In his previous loss in the UFC, Matthews made a mistake and was caught out in a choke by Texan Michael Vick.
Against Lee, he was quickly and comprehensively outclassed.
After the fight Matthews refused to blame the travel or the time difference, saying simply that the wished he could have changed the fight and claimed a victory.
For his part, Lee called out fiery New York brawler Al Iaquinta, who won a split decision victory over Lee in his UFC debut.
Queensland fighter Anton Zafir opened the card and, appeared to be on a different path to Matthews, twice taking down opponent Jingliang Li in the early stages of their welterweight fight.
That path was diverted with maximum force when Li took down Zafir against the cage, postured up and landed two left hands that knocked out Zafir.
The Airlie Beach schoolteacher was only out for a split second, but referee Chris Tognoni wisely sprung into action and stopped the fight, preventing Zafir from sustaining any unnecessary damage.
The defeat brings Zafir's record to 0-2 in the UFC, leaving him in serious danger of having his UFC contract terminated.
In the main event, strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk used blistering striking combinations to orchestrate a come-from-behind decision victory over bitter rival Claudia Gadelha.
The first fight between the pair was a razor-close affair, with Jedrzrejczyk claiming a controversial victory despite Gadelha taking the Polish fighter down seven times.
The heavily muscled Gadelha started the bout with a bang, slipping a left jab through the champion's guard in the opening seconds of the fight.
The Brazilian immediately went to work on the ground, battering the champion with relentless takedowns and nasty ground and pound for the next two rounds.
If it were a three-round fight, Gadelha would have won easily but halfway through the third round Gadelha gassed and gassed hard, her punches slowing down and previously relentless movement reduced to a predictable plod.
Down by two rounds, the champion was barely breathing heavy and she went to work with her incredibly accurate, fast striking game.
Things got ugly quickly, with the champion landing three and four-punch combinations at will, and every shot she took from the Brazilian she sent back in triplicate.
In her diminished state, Gadelha simply had no answer for the pace, power or accuracy of Jedrzejczyk, who won a 48-46, 48-45, 48-86 victory.