MMAJunkie has learned that UFC 83 — likely to go down March 8th in London — will feature the return of Houston “The Assassin” Alexander, who has accepted a fight with James Irvin. Alexander is coming off a loss to Thiago Silva at UFC 78, his first defeat since his pro debut in June 2001. Irvin (13-4, 3-3 UFC) recently fought in the undercard of UFC 79, taking a win by disqualification after Luis Cane kneed him in the head while he was on the ground; he also made Terry Martin look like a bitch at UFC 54.

No offense to the journeyman skills of James Irvin, but this matchup proves that the UFC wants to get Alexander back on the winning track — preferably with another first-round knockout, like he had against Keith Jardine and Alessio Sakara in his first two fights in the Octagon. Between his aggressive style and touching personal story (single father, six kids, donated kidney, yada yada), UFC fans love the Assassin, and were bummed when Silva exposed his lack of a ground game and GnP’d his lights out. Putting Alexander up against Irvin basically means handing him the “Knockout of the Night” bonus on a silver platter. Why else would James Irvin get a fight so quickly, after his non-performance last month? And here’s a question — is Thiago Silva being punished by the UFC for derailing Houston Alexander‘s hype train and delaying his path to a title shot? Houston’s getting another fight, and James freakin’ Irvin is getting another fight only two months and change after his last one. But you don’t hear much about Thiago lately…