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Saffiedine hasn’t fought for more than two years.
Did you know Tarec Saffiedine was still on the UFC roster until recently? Well now he’s a free agent.
The Belgian welterweight was actually cut in mid-November, but the news was only reported by MMA Fighting a few days ago. Saffiedine hasn’t fought in over two years and has had a UFC career severely hampered because of injuries.
Saffiedine won the Strikeforce 170 lbs belt from Nate Marquardt in the final event in the promotion’s history, but it would be a year before he would make his UFC debut. In January 2014, he took a Fight of the Night decision over Hyun Gyu Lim at UFC Singapore, but suffered a TKO defeat to Rory MacDonald later that October.
After not fighting in 2015, Saffiedine dispatched Jake Ellenberger in January 2016, which represents his most recent victory. The 33-year-old proceeded to lose decisions to Rick Story, Dong Hyun Kim, and most recently Rafael dos Anjos.
Saffiedine has been busy coaching at Dan Henderson’s Athletic Fitness Center in California, so he’s still active in some capacity with the sport. Whether he’ll return to MMA competition any time soon remains to be seen.