Rory MacDonald vs. Tarec Saffiedine headlines UFC Fight Night 54 in Halifax
The UFC still will show a little love to Canada this fall after events planned for Toronto and Montreal were yanked from the calendar.
UFC Fight Night 54, planned for Halifax, Nova Scotia, since early this year, now has its main event: a welterweight tilt between Canada’s own Rory MacDonald (17-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) and former Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine (15-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC).
UFC officials announced the fight on Thursday morning on Twitter. UFC Fight Night 54 takes place Oct. 4 at Halifax Metro Centre. No broadcast plans for the card have been announced, though a combination of FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass is expected.
The card will be the UFC’s second on that day. UFC Fight Night 53 takes place in Sweden earlier in the day and streams on UFC Fight Pass in the United States.
MacDonald is ranked No. 3, while Saffiedine is No. 14 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA welterweight rankings.
MacDonald will be looking to build on a two-fight winning streak that came after a split-decision loss to Robbie Lawler at UFC 167 this past November. He rebounded in February with a “Fight of the Night†win over Demian Maia at UFC 170 in Las Vegas, then topped Tyron Woodley in a contenders bout six weeks ago at UFC 174 in Vancouver.
The protege of former champion Georges St-Pierre now has won seven of his past eight fights, and with UFC Fight Night 54, he will draw his first headlining assignment for the UFC in his 11th outing for the promotion.
Saffiedine returned from a yearlong layoff in January and made his long-awaited UFC debut, topping Hyun Gyu Lim in a “Fight of the Night†winner in the UFC Fight Night 34 main event in Singapore. Prior to that, Saffiedine upset Nate Marquardt to win Strikeforce’s 170-pound title at the promotion’s finale. That gave the longtime Dan Henderson teammate at Team Quest four straight wins, which he stretched to five with the victory over Lim.
