The former Oakland Athletics slugger was defeated by South Korean super heavyweight Hong Man Choi by a knockout just 1 minute, 17 seconds into the first round at Yokohama Arena.

The referee stopped the fight when the 7-foot-2, 330-pound Choi knocked Canseco to the mat and started punching his head.

“That’s a big man,” Canseco said after the fight. “I ran into one of his left jabs and that almost knocked me out. You have no idea how scary it was facing a man that big.”

Canseco did land the first blow with a right to the upper body of Choi but that was all the damage he could inflict on the Korean giant.

Shortly into the fight, Canseco hurt his right knee and was unable to do much after that.

“I hurt my knee back home real bad but I didn’t want to disappoint the fans,” Canseco said. “I knew that at some point during the fight my knee was going to give out and once I was down I knew I wasn’t going to get up. He’s just too heavy to move.”

Canseco came into the arena to “Wild Thing” with a baseball bat on his shoulder. The way things turned out, he probably should have kept the bat.

He took a few swings of the bat after the fight was over and was helped out of the ring by his girlfriend, Heidi Northcott.

Canseco, who hit 462 home runs over 17 seasons in the major leagues, has had several fights inside the ring since leaving baseball but has never taken on professional fighters like Choi, who improved to 2-2 in MMA.

He boxed Danny Bonaduce, a former “Partridge Family” child star, to a draw in a celebrity match in January. The 1988 AL MVP, who named alleged steroid abusers like himself in his two books, lost to former Philadelphia Eagle Vai Sikahema in his first foray into celebrity boxing.

By his acknowledgment, the baseball outcast needs the money. It’s one reason why Canseco has accepted a wide variety of offbeat jobs to make ends meet.

He said he will work on getting his knee back in shape before taking on any more fights.

“I have no idea if I’ll do this again,” Canseco said. “I’ve gotta get my knee better before I commit to anything like this.”

Jose Canseco loses MMA debut fight in 77 seconds

Machida landed a barrage of punches that sent Evans reeling up against the cage and finished him off with a left hand that folded Evans backwards onto the canvas.

"I’ve tried all my life to become a champion and I am very, very happy," a jubilant Machida said. "Now I’m going to keep this belt for a long time."

The light heavyweight title has now changed hands four times in the last five title bouts.

In the co-main event earlier, Matt Hughes won a unanimous decision against Matt Serra in a matchup of former welterweight champions.

Serra took the advantage early on, flooring Hughes with strikes in the first round. Hughes was able to fight back utilizing his superior wrestling ability and controlled the final two rounds with all three judges scoring the fight 29-28.

The two embraced after the fight and seemed to put the bad blood behind them.

The fighters developed a heated rivalry while coaching opposing teams on The Ultimate Fighter reality show and were scheduled to meet at UFC 79 in December 2007 when Serra pulled out of the bout due to injury.

When asked what his plans for the future were, Hughes said," I’m still motivated to compete so we’ll see what happens. I’d like to fight in my home area."

On the undercard, Drew McFedries made quick work of Xavier Foupa-Pokam, getting the TKO just 37 seconds into their fight. Also, Chael Sonnen beat Dan Miller by unanimous decision and Frank Edgar looked impressive, earning a unanimous decision victory over former lightweight champion Sean Sherk.

Brock Larson, Tim Hague, Kyle Bradley, Krzysztof Soszynski, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, and George Roop won preliminary fights.

Larson forced Mike Pyle to tapout via arm triangle in the first round, Hague used a guillotine choke to submit Pat Barry in the first round, and Bradley also stopped Phillipe Nover by TKO in the opening round. Soszynski scored a first-round knockout of Andre Gusmao, Yoshida forced Brandon Wolff to tap in the first round, and Roop earned a split decision over Dave Kaplan.

Machida KOs Evans, wins UFC lightweight belt