ANAHEIM - Tim Sylvia never knew what hit him.

When Sylvia reigned as UFC heavyweight champion, he always wanted to test himself against Fedor Emelianenko, who held the PRIDE heavyweight title at the time.

Sylvia should have been more careful about what he was wishing for.

Emelianenko, a 6-0, 230-pounder, needed a mere 36 seconds to fell the 6-8, 265-pounder, submitting Sylvia with a rear-naked choke in the main event of “Affliction Banned” on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 13,988 at Honda Center.

“You never know how short or long the fight will be,” said Emelianenko, who claimed the vacant WAMMA heavyweight title with the victory. “I just wanted to end it is quickly as possible. I just wanted to show the fans my skills.”

Emelianenko debunked any speculation as to who the best heavyweight in mixed martial arts is with his complete dismantling of Sylvia.

“Honestly, I don’t care where people rank me or the rankings,” Emelianenko said.

It all happened so fast.

The two heavyweights collided in the center of the ring. Emelianenko and Sylvia traded huge power shots. Emelianenko’s lefts and rights dropped Sylvia to the canvas.

Emelianenko pounced on the fallen giant, landing a barrage of right hands. Sylvia turtled up and Emelianenko took his back.

Sylvia, who once let his arm be broken by a Frank Mir armbar rather than tap out, had no choice but to tap out when Emelianenko slapped on a rear-naked choke. Sylvia punched the mat in disgust after Emelianenko released the choke.

“I’m very happy about my performance,” Emelianenko said. “Everything I wanted to do I was able to do. I was prepared to fight standing up, but I knew I had a better chance to end it on the ground.”

Sylvia was impressed by the Russian’s performance.

“He got off first and then I had so many things going through my mind,”  Sylvia said. “He got off, jumped on me and got the submission.”

Emelianenko was asked who he would like to fight next.

“It would be my desire to fight with Randy Couture,” Emelianenko said.

Couture is currently in litigation with the UFC, so it remains to be seen when he would be available to fight Emelianenko.

“I absolutely want to fight Fedor, but I have a lot of things I have to settle,” Couture said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to do it by the end of the year.”

Emelianenko, of Stary Oskol, Russia, who was guaranteed $1.5 million, upped his record to 28-1. Sylvia, of Bettendorf, Iowa, who was guaranteed $800,000, dropped to 24-5.

Two former UFC heavyweight champions came through with spectacular KOs to highlight the undercard, which was loaded with talented fighters.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (12-5) of Chicago, Ill., showed off his amazing array of offensive firepower, dismantling former IFL standout Ben Rothwell (29-5) of Kenosha, Wisc., at 1:13 of the third round.

Arlovski tripped Rothwell to take the fight to the ground midway through the first round and went for a heel hook, but Rothwell rolled out of the submission attempt and got back to his feet.

Rothwell got aggressive to start the second and paid the price as Arlovski drove him back with a volley of punches. Arlovski cornered Rothwell and let his hands go. Arlovski got his second takedown and went for another heel hook. Rothwell escaped and ended up on top. Rothwell got in some good ground-and-pound, but the fighters were eventually stood up. Arlovski unloaded on Rothwell with a series of combinations, a left high kick and a flying knee. Rothwell showed incredible heart to make it out of the second round.

Arlovski ended the fight in decisive fashion in the third round, connecting with straight right and right uppercut that sent the 6-5, 264-pounder crashing to the canvas at 1:13 of the third round.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett (23-5) of Fullerton avenged one of his losses with a brutal second-round KO over Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo (16-8) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Rizzo made the cardinal sin of backing straight back to avoid a right hand. Barnett stepped forward and connected a perfect left hook on the chin that stretched Rizzo out on the canvas at 1:44 of the second round.

Rizzo knocked out Barnett in the second round at UFC 30 in 2001.

“Pedro is as tough as they come,” Barnett said. “His jab is harder than most people’s right hand. It could have been me laying on the ground.”

Featherweight Savant Young (9-8) of Lakewood did his best to fight off a multitude of submission attempts by Mark Hominick (16-8) of Ontario, Canada, but Hominick finally got him to tap out to an armbar at 4:25 of the second round.

Former UFC light-heavyweight title challenger Renato “Babalu” Sobral (30-7) of Costa Mesa and three-time All-American wrestler Mike Whitehead (20-6) of Salt Lake City, Utah, went three hard rounds, but it was Sobral’s aggression and pressure that gave him the edge.

Sobral finished strong, preventing Whitehead from doing anything when the wrestler finally got a takedown in the third round. Sobral almost pulled off an omoplata. Sobral dazzled the crowd in the final minute, landing a front kick to Whitehead’s face and connecting with a spinning roundhouse.

All three judges scored the fight for Sobral by the same score, 30-27.

“He was very strong,” Sobral said. “We’ve been working very hard on boxing with my coach. People forgot I could strike. I’ll make them remember.”

Team Quest’s Matt Lindland (21-5) of Eagle Creek, Ore., was pushed much harder than he was expected, but he still pounded out a three-round unanimous decision over Team Oyama’s Fabio “Negao” Nascimento (8-4) of Irvine.

It certainly wasn’t the kind of performance that will have fans clamoring for Lindland to face UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Nascimento turned in a valiant effort to last the distance against Lindland, who won every round on all three of the judges’ scorecards.

“I hit him with some huge shots, but he was still there,” Lindland said. “My hat is off to him. He’s a tough guy.”

Nascimento spent most of the first round trying to fight his way out of a guillotine choke, then eating punches and elbows from the bottom position as Lindland completely handled the Brazilian.

Nascimento had some success early in the second round when he landed some hard shots during the exchanges on the feet. But Lindland got a takedown and continued to dish out the punishment with his effective ground-and-pound tactics.

The fight got very sloppy in the third round as both fighters were battling fatigue.

Light-heavyweight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (14-3) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, took care of Edwin Dewees (35-13) of Scottsdale, Ariz., scoring a first-round TKO.

Nogueira, the twin brother of UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, was having his way with Dewees in the corner, landing a ton of strikes and knees. Dewees was blocking some of the shots, but many were getting through.

A left hand finally put Dewees down. Dewees covered up and Nogueira pounded on his fallen opponent referee Herb Dean stopped it at 4:06 of the first round.

Xtreme Couture welterweight Mike “Quicksand” Pyle (16-5-1) of Las Vegas didn’t waste any time, dispatching J.J. Ambrose (9-2) of Lakewood with a first-round submission.

Pyle took down Ambrose with a strong body lock right into side mount. He quickly maneuvered into full mount, took Ambrose’s back and got a rear-naked choke at 2:51 of the first round.

“I knew I had him when I had his back,” Pyle said. “It was just a matter of time until he sank in the quicksand.”

Former UFC star Vitor Belfort (17-8) of Curitiba, Brazil, was a much more slender version of himself at 185 pounds, but he still packs dynamite in his fists as Terry Martin (16-5) of Chicago, Ill., found out.

Both fighters played it cautious in the first round as they felt each other out and tried to find a rhythm.

Belfort found his range in the second round, connecting with a flying left knee that set up the eventual finishing combination. Belfort landed a right uppercut followed by a devastating straight left that knocked Martin out cold at 3:12 of the second round.

“I had good success tonight,” Belfort said. “I had a great training camp and a good team. I was ready for the fight as you can see. He was a tough guy and very fast, but I took care of him.”

PRIDE veteran Gary Goodridge (23-18-1) of Barrie, Canada, stepped in as a late-replacement for Aleksander Emelianenko to take on UFC and Strikeforce veteran Paul Buentello (26-10) of Amarillo, Tex.

The heavyweight fight resembled a sparring match at times, but it also featured some heated exchanges at other times. Buentello had Goodridge staggered and stunned on a couple of occasions, but appeared to be unable or unwilling to move in for the finish.

Buentello settled for a three-round unanimous decision, winning by scores of 30-27 on all three judges’ scorecards.

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