Tarec Saffiedine, the new "Muscles from Brussels?"
Jean-Claude Van Damme is probably still the owner of that nickname, but Saffiedine put on a striking clinic over Scott Smith tonight that would have made Van Damme, himself, proud.
Saffiedine utilized his superior striking to throw punches, kicks, knees and elbows while staying out of Smith's wheelhouse to secure a three-round unanimous decision over the American.
Saffiedine definitely has the striking to hang with the best in the welterweight division, but coming into the fight against Smith off a loss to Tyrone Woodley where he was ground out by the wrestler over three rounds definitely raises question.
A fighter can have the best striking in the world, but if they can't defend a wrestler's shot it is going to be very hard to be more than a gatekeeper in the upper echelon of the sport.
Despite the loss to Woodley, Saffiedine is 4-1 in Strikeforce and with the win over Smith tonight, the Belgian needs to continue to build off the momentum. With Nick Diaz in the UFC and the Strikeforce welterweight title up for grabs, Saffiedine isn't too far away from getting a shot at gold. This is where Paul Daley comes in.
Daley also fought on the Strikeforce card tonight and although he displayed much improved wrestling defense against Tyrone Woodley by defending eight of the 10 takedowns attempted, he still came out on the losing end of a decision.
The loss to Woodley puts Daley on a two fight losing streak and the English fighter is going to have to pull off a win if he wants to keep his job.
Saffiedine vs. Daley makes perfect sense for both fighters.
Saffiedine's stock is rising in the division and win for Daley of him would go a long way to getting things back on track for the Brit.
For Saffiedine on the other hand, a win over Daley is a win over one of the bigger names in Strikeforce and over a guy who gave former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz his toughest title defense while with the organization.
Tie together the fact that both men would rather throw leather and look for the knockout as oppose to wrestling it out on the mat and a fight between these two spells barn-burner for the fans.
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