If you ran to the kitchen for a glass of sweet tea, you missed it.

Former Gardendale state wrestling champion John Salter notched his fourth consecutive MMA win on Saturday in Florence, Italy. He quickly took the Bellator 168 fight to the ground and quickly ended it via TKO due to unanswered strikes.

Salter’s win over Claudio Annicchiarrico—the hometown fighter—left the capacity crowd silent. Especially considering it came at the 1:40 mark of the opening round.

The 31-year-old, now 13-3 as a professional fighter, executed a takedown and went into full mount only 30 seconds into the fight. After Annicchiarrico accepted a flurry of fists from Salter, referee Jason Herzog stepped in with 3:23 remaining on the first-round clock.

A 2002 graduate of Gardendale High School, Salter improves to 3-0 as a fighter in Bellator MMA, and hopes for a title shot in the middleweight division soon.

“I’m the best 185-fighter in Bellator and I’m ready for my title shot next,” said Salter after the fight. “On the ground, I’m the best there is in the division so when I put them on their back, I’m going to stop them.”

Erik Harris is the Sports Editor of The North Jefferson News. Email him at njnsports@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeharris2.