In a night full of fast-paced action at Halquist Productions’ CageSport XXVI, heavyweight champion Anthony Hamilton stayed the course by ending his fight with Matt Kovacs midway through the first round via TKO on Saturday at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma.

The stoppage followed the pattern of a night that consisted of six first-round TKOs and only one fight going the distance. Redmond native Hamilton retained his CageSport heavyweight title while further establishing himself as a top heavyweight in the Northwest.

Much like Hamilton’s last three fights, he wasted no time in pressing the fight — right when the bell sounded, he squared up with Kovacs and took him to the ground. Hamilton threw a relentless ground-and-pound attack that Kovacs couldn’t keep up with. At 2:14 into the fight, the referee had seen enough and stepped in to stop the fight, giving Hamilton his first successful CageSport title defense while improving his record to 10-2.