Strikeforce closed its doors on Saturday after delivering another night of entertaining fights. The promotion had its ups and downs over the years, but when fight night rolled around, fans usually walked away with a satisfying experience. The promotion’s final night was no exception.
On paper, all of the main card fights had a pronounced favorite and underdog and most of the fights ended with the favorite walking away with victory. The one fight that didn’t end as expected was the evening’s main event.
Nate Marquardt was a heavy favorite to retain his Strikeforce welterweight title in that bout and it was expected that he would then waltz into the UFC and make a run at that promotion’s welterweight crown. Marquardt‘s opponent, Tarec Saffiedine, had other plans.
Saffiedine used heavy leg kicks to make sure that Marquardt wouldn’t be walking, much less waltzing anywhere following the contest. By the end of their five-round contest, Marquardt‘s leg was a bruised and swollen mess, looking like something wild dogs would walk past without a second glance. Yes, it was that ugly.
In the evening’s co-main event, Daniel Cormier did what was expected and rolled over Dion Staring. However, after the fight, he did something that wasn’t expected, calling out UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones during his post-fight in-cage interview, saying that he would kick Jones’ ass sometime this fall.
Check out the video for highlights from all of Saturday’s main card fights and make sure to turn up the volume when they get to the Saffiedine highlights—those kicks were ugly.
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