Saffiedine upsets Marquardt, wins Strikeforce welterweight title

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by Brett Okamoto |

The final fight in Strikeforce history produced a surprising victor as Tarec Saffiedine upset Nate Marquardt for the welterweight title Saturday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Headlining the final event for a promotion that became involved with MMA in 2006, Saffiedine relied on a game plan of steady leg kicks to dethrone the defending champion. All three judges scored it in his favor: 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46.

"It's unbelievable," Saffiedine said. "I can't imagine I'm wearing the belt right now. I want to thank Strikeforce for being by my side for so long."

While not one of the biggest names of the Strikeforce brand, Saffiedine (14-3) has enjoyed plenty of success since signing with the promotion in 2010. He finishes with an overall record of 7-1, the only loss coming via decision to Tyron Woodley.

The win over Marquardt will not be remembered as one of the most action-packed of the year, but it demonstrated a well-rounded skill set by Saffiedine and a strong commitment to what turned out to be a very effective game plan.

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Tarrec Saffiedine Vs. Nate "The Great" Marquardt

Fight was scheduled for 5 rounds (5x5x5x5x5) - Fight was for the Welterweight Title

Name	Tarrec Saffiedine
Height	5′ 6″ (167.64 cm)
Weight	170 (77.11 kg)
Record	13-2-0
Team

Name	Nate Marquardt	Nate Marquardt" src="http://img.mixedmartialarts.com/method=get&rs=100&q=75&x=-1&y=0&w=90&h=120&ro=0&s=05F5B300-1D09-6BFC-E5168E8FDDE3E0C7.jpg" />
Height	6′ 1″ (185.42 cm)
Weight	185 (83.91 kg)
Record	32-10-2
Team	Colorado Stars

-Tarec Saffiedine defeated Nate Marquardt by Unanimous Decision (48-47, 49-46 and 49-46)

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tags: Nate Marquardt (detail) Tarec Saffiedine Strikeforce

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1/13/13 8:49 AM by KingD87

Nate chokes again...

1/13/13 8:41 AM by NorthFromHere

Tarec impressed me. Overall a very solid performance by him.

1/13/13 7:40 AM by BruceLeroysLowKick

DFW will sign Nate to the UFC regardless of this fight

1/13/13 6:59 AM by BertR

impressed with saffiedine. Wished he would have ended it by making nate submit to leg kicks though.

1/13/13 6:13 AM by JustAnotherMMAFan

Isn't Nate off TRT?That might explain his performance and lack of explosiveness.

1/13/13 4:39 AM by DaemonDragon

I am wondering the exact same thing. I figured Nate would be top 5 at 170 easily. But he got handled in this fight. And it wasn't like some flash KO or something, he just got straight outclassed.I have no idea whether that means Tarec is actually an elite WW though, or if non-TRT Nate is simply not that great, or maybe he just totally overlooked Tarec and barely trained. Really don't know what to make of this fight.

1/13/13 4:36 AM by DaemonDragon

This result *really* surprised me. Was shocked at Nate's complete inability to check those leg kicks. He managed to what, check like 2 kicks out of how many dozens??How can a vet like Nate, who was thought by almost all to have very high level striking, be so terrible at checking kicks?Props to Tarec - a lot of those kicks were perfectly timed, and set up well. But Nate should have been able to give a better performance than THAT. He looked awful.He also looked weaker than before - maybe not being on TRT anymore has really hurt his power. He was getting handled or reversed in the clinch/held against the cage a lot by Tarec.I would have figured Nate would easily be able to take Tarec down, because Nate had like a 75% success rate on takedowns when he was in the UFC, which was among the highest ever. But his takedown attempts against Tarec looked extremely ineffective.And alas for Nate, winning here was probably his only shot at getting back to the UFC, after they were so pissed with him before. I don't think they'll sign him after a fight in which he got beaten up so bad.Post-TRT Nate really does look to be shrinking...the announcers claimed he only cut 7 pounds, if I remember right...? That's crazy since Nate was once one of the hugest 185 pounders.Yeah, I only had Nate winning 1 round. You could maybe give him the first two rounds because they were close. But I have no idea how anyone could score this fight for Nate. 48-47 Tarec at worst.

1/13/13 4:28 AM by Tommy DeVito

LMAO!

1/13/13 4:17 AM by UGCTT_nightkap

ThisI wanna see Tarrec fight a guy like Nick Diaz, jake shields, or maybe even Dan Hardy. I know those are some big names.....I just wanna see it dammit!!lol

1/13/13 3:26 AM by RileyPust

Tarec looked great, Nate looked like he didn't take his opponent very seriously in my opinion.

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