UFC Fight Night 34 results: Tarec Saffiedine chops down Hyun Gyu Lim

SINGAPORE – It’s been a bad week for the legs of losing fighters in UFC main events. After Anderson Silva snapped his leg at UFC 168 this past weekend, Hyun Gyu Lim (12-4-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) today had his legs kicked out from under him by Tarec Saffiedine (15-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC).

The welterweight bout headlined UFC Fight Night 34 event at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore. It was the debut event on UFC Fight Pass, the organization’s new digital network.

A week ago, Silva broke his leg when throwing a low kick in a losing effort against middleweight champion Chris Weidman. At UFC Fight Night 34, there were no breaks, but Saffiedine provided no shortage of carnage as he mangled Lim’s lead leg with five rounds of abuse. It ultimately led the Belgian striker to a unanimous-decision victory via 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 scores.

As expected Saffiedine, the final Strikeforce welterweight champion whose UFC debut was delayed by injuries, opened the bout with a steady stream of first-round low kicks that did damage. Lim, though, was sharp with counters and even scored a couple knockdowns/trips after catching kicks and unloading straight rights.

Although the fighters appeared composed to start the second round, they quickly threw caution to the wind. Both unloaded haymakers, and Saffiedine got the better of it as the round wore on. After following up with low kicks, he created openings for punches to the head. It was a theme that played out for the remainder of the fight.

As in the second round, Lim got through some meaningful shots in the third, but Saffiedine’s mixture of damaging low kicks and counter-punches took a toll. A few takedowns allowed him to do some damage on the mat before returning to his feet and further battering and bruising Lim’s lead leg, which turned dark purple and eventually gave out on him before the round ended.

While it was questionable if Lim would even be able to answer the bell, he gingerly walked for the fourth round. Saffiedine, though, showed the South Korean no mercy and immediately dropped him with more low kicks. Lim, who entered the fight with seven straight wins (and back-to-back KO victories in the UFC), swung wildly while looking for a home-run shot, but he was simply wounded prey. Saffiedine attacked with low kicks, knees to the body, and a flying knee to the head before dropping Lim late in the round.

While the loss seemed a foregone conclusion, Lim came out strong in the final round, and he did damage with a swarm of punches as Saffiedine finally started to fatigue. But any of Lim’s attacks were quickly halted with a kick to his leg, which sent the massive 170-pounder to the canvas. Lim, though, never conceded the win, and in a frantic exchange in the waning seconds of the bout, he actually wobbled Saffiedine with punches and knees.

With a few more seconds, Lim might have been able to pull off the miracle comeback, but in the end, Saffiedine got the judges’ nod.

“I was pretty hurt,” admitted Saffiedine, who thanked his team for a good game plan. “He got me with a good punch (at the end).”

Despite a yearlong layoff, Saffiedine showed few signs of ring rust, but he admittedly got a tough test in his promotional debut.

“He’s really tough,” he said of Lim. “He was prepared for me. He’s a great fighter.”

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 34 results include:

• Tarec Saffiedine def. Hyun Gyu Lim via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
• Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Sean Soriano via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 0:50
• Kiichi Kunimoto def. Luiz Dutra via disqualification (illegal elbows) – Round 1, 2:57
• Kyung Ho Kang def. Shunichi Shimizu via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 3, 3:53
• Max Holloway def. Will Chope via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:27
• Katsunori Kikuno def. Quinn Mulhern via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Royston Wee def. David Galera via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
• Mairbek Taisumov def. Tae Hyun Bang via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Dustin Kimura def. Jon Delos Reyes via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 2:13
• Russell Doane def Leandro Issa via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 4:59

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 34, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Singapore.