James "The Sandman" Irvin (born September 12 , 1978) is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes as a light heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former World Extreme Cagefighting heavyweight champion.

On April 2, 2008, Irvin fought Houston Alexander as the first fight on the televised portion of UFC Fight Night: Kenny Florian vs Joe Lauzon. Irvin led off with a superman punch to the jaw that knocked Alexander down. He followed with three more punches to the face that appeared to render him temporarily unconscious, and Steve Mazzagatti rushed in to stop the fight. Alexander immediately got to his feet and protested the quick stoppage. The 8-second knockout tied the record for the fastest knockout in the UFC. The victory was officially ruled as a TKO due to strikes, although some sources list it as a KO. This has generated some controversy as some fans felt that the fight was stopped too quickly.

Irvin was supposed to fight Rashad Evans at UFC 85 in London, England but he sustained a foot injury that forced him to pull out, and Evans was removed from the card as well.

When the UFC wanted its middleweight champion Anderson Silva to make his debut in the UFC light-heavyweight division, Irvin accepted the fight after four other fighters had already declined. UFC: Silva vs Irvin was intentionally scheduled for July 19, 2008 in order to conflict with the pay-per-view broadcast of Affliction: Banned. Even though Irvin was the larger fighter, he was regarded as a significant underdog. In the first round, the fighters felt each other out for most of a minute until Silva caught a kick to the body and knocked Irvin down with a straight right hand. Silva followed with a quick barrage of punches to end the fight by knockout. After the fight, Irvin tested positive for methadone and oxymorphone.