{"id":114276,"date":"2014-10-04T22:10:12","date_gmt":"2014-10-05T05:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=114276"},"modified":"2022-02-04T20:21:40","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T04:21:40","slug":"ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC Fight Night 54 Results: MacDonald smashes Saffiedine, earns 3rd round TKO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Rory-MacDonald-Wins-PNG.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-87352\" src=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Rory-MacDonald-Wins-PNG.png\" alt=\"Rory MacDonald Wins PNG\" width=\"390\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Rory-MacDonald-Wins-PNG.png 390w, https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Rory-MacDonald-Wins-PNG-300x207.png 300w, https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Rory-MacDonald-Wins-PNG-361x250.png 361w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Rory MacDonald (18-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC)\u00a0defeated Tarec Saffiedine (15-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) via third-round TKO in tonight&#8217;s UFC Fight Night 54 main event in Halifax.<\/p>\n<p>MacDonald was quick to take control of the center of the octagon in this one. Both fighters were tentative in the\u00a0early minutes, but began opening up after a quick feel out. MacDonald would score a takedown late in round 1, however, the former Strikeforce champion was quick to return to his feet. &#8220;Ares&#8221; would land a stiff jab to close out round 1.<\/p>\n<p>MacDonald began round 2 by pressuring Saffiedine. The Canadian landed a solid combo early in the round much to the delight of the home crowd. Rory continued to pepper\u00a0his opponent\u00a0with jabs and Saffiedine&#8217;s eye began to swell as a result. Tarec would land some good leg kicks but MacDonald would land a big right followed by a front kick to close out round 2.<\/p>\n<p>Saffiedine started off round 3\u00a0by\u00a0landing\u00a0a big right hand which he followed up with\u00a0some more leg kicks. Rory stayed composed and\u00a0would eventually drop Saffiedine with a left uppercut.\u00a0&#8220;Ares&#8221;\u00a0promptly proceeded to\u00a0pounce\u00a0on his fallen opponent with\u00a0heavy ground and pound\u00a0forcing the ref to jump in and stop the fight.<\/p>\n<p>The win marks Rory&#8217;s third victory in a row and puts him in prime\u00a0position for a welterweight title shot, which he asked for in his post fight interview.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rory MacDonald (18-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC)\u00a0defeated Tarec Saffiedine (15-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) via third-round TKO in tonight&#8217;s UFC Fight Night 54 main event in Halifax. MacDonald was quick to take control of the center of the octagon in this one. Both fighters were tentative in the\u00a0early minutes, but began opening up after a quick feel [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":101205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[2681],"tags":[9,793,878,9060,16],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>UFC Fight Night 54 Results: MacDonald smashes Saffiedine, earns 3rd round TKO | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UFC Fight Night 54 Results: MacDonald smashes Saffiedine, earns 3rd round TKO | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rory MacDonald (18-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC)\u00a0defeated Tarec Saffiedine (15-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) via third-round TKO in tonight&#8217;s UFC Fight Night 54 main event in Halifax. 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Both fighters were tentative in the\u00a0early minutes, but began opening up after a quick feel [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-05T05:10:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-05T04:21:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Rory-MacDonald.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"390\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/fe444b8007aa9105494afef8547151ff\"},\"headline\":\"UFC Fight Night 54 Results: MacDonald smashes Saffiedine, earns 3rd round TKO\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-05T05:10:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-05T04:21:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/\"},\"wordCount\":247,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"featured\",\"Rory MacDonald\",\"tarec Saffiedine\",\"ufc fight night 54\",\"ufc news\"],\"articleSection\":[\"UFC NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2014\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/\",\"name\":\"UFC Fight Night 54 Results: MacDonald smashes Saffiedine, earns 3rd round TKO | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-05T05:10:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-05T04:21:40+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/ufc-fight-night-54-results-macdonald-smashes-saffiedine-earns-3rd-round-tko\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UFC NEWS\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC Fight Night 54 Results: MacDonald smashes Saffiedine, earns 3rd round TKO\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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