In his return to welterweight, James Krause looked as good as ever in a knockout win over sizable favorite Warlley Alves.

Krause (26-7 MMA, 7-3 UFC) set up Alves (12-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC), a 4-1 favorite, with kicks earlier in the fight, then faked one – and landed a big knee in the second. With Alves wobbled, Krause took the Brazilian out with punches for a standing knockout at the 2:28 mark of the second round.

The welterweight bout closed out the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 135 event at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb. It aired on FS2 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FS1.

Krause tried a high kick, but got caught up and had to scramble back up from the canvas. A moment later, both he and Alves landed body kicks at the same time, but Krause looked for a takedown after that. They traded positions in the clinch on the fence, but soon Alves worked around and briefly took Krause’s back.

They broke apart with three minutes left, and again Krause tried a high kick that didn’t work. With 15 seconds left, Krause nearly landed a perfect front kick up the middle, but it glanced off.

Krause looked pumped up to open the second, but it was Alves who landed big early. The two again clinched for a bit, then broke apart and tried to trade. Just ahead of the midway point of the round, Krause landed a huge right knee. It wobbled Alves, and Krause took advantage.

Krause stayed right on the Brazilian and landed punches until Alves was out on his feet. With Alves backed to the fence and his hands down, Krause landed big punches till he got the finish.

Krause won for the fifth straight time. After a two-fight winning streak, Alves lost for the first time in nearly two years.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 135 results include:

• James Krause def. Warlley Alves via knockout (knee, punches) – Round 2, 2:28
• Cory Sandhagen def. Iuri Alcantara via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:01
• Andrew Sanchez def. Markus Perez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Mickey Gall def. George Sullivan via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:09
• Joanne Calderwood def. Kalindra Faria via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 4:57
• Drew Dober def. Jon Tuck via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
• Rani Yahya def. Luke Sanders via submission (heel hook) – Round 1, 1:31

For more on UFC Fight Night 135, check out the UFC Events section of the site.