'Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine' results: Saffiedine takes split decision over Stinson

Tyler Stinson had his opponent in trouble early with a vicious elbow strike that left his eye badly bruised and bloodied.

But fast-rising welterweight Tarec Saffiedine turned to his wrestlingand scored takedowns to win the next two rounds and earn asplit-decision victory.

The fight kicked off the main card of "Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine" and aired on Showtime. It took place at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Stinson worked punches early, and Saffiedine countered mostly with low kicks that slowed the advances. He then mixed in a good head kick and front kick to the face before clinching and corralling Stinson against the cage. However, Stinson quickly put him on shaky legs with a forearm strike to the eye did that damage. Hurt by the blow, Saffiedine quickly forced a takedown, narrowly escaped an armbar, and returned to his feet. Once up, Saffiedine was bloodied from the forearm strike and ate some heavy punches that put him on the run.

As the second round began, a confident Stinson stalked and landed a few good combinations with solid straight lefts. Saffiedine shot and scored an across-the-cage takedown midway through the round, and though Stinson tried to tie up the action from his back, he ate a number of punches and elbows that left him bloodied.

With the game plan working well, Saffiedine again shot and scored a takedown in the third round. And again, he put together a sustained attack from the top that simply shut down Stinson, who was badly bloodied by the ground and pound. Stinson got a very questionable standup with a minute remaining in the fight, but with both competitors partially blinded by gushing facial cuts, neither landed anything too substantial. Stinson, though, was the one pressing the action in hopes of stealing the round.

In the end, the judges awarded Saffiedine the split-decision win via 28-29, 30-27 and 29-28 scores.

"It wasn't my best performance, but I got the job done, so I'm pretty happy," Saffiedine said. "Tyler, he's a really tough opponent. He cut me in the first round, so I wanted to take him down in the next rounds."

Saffiedine (12-3 MMA, 4-1 SF) is 5-1 over his past six fights, and the lone loss came to fellow contender Tyron Woodley. Stinson (22-8 MMA, 1-1 SF), a Bellator vet, snaps a three-fight win streak.

Up-to-the-fight results include:
Tarec Saffiedine def. Tyler Stinson via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28) Nah-Shon Burrell def. James Terry via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) Gian Villante def. Trevor Smith via TKO (punches) - Round 1, 1:05 Ricky Legere def. Chris Spang via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Estevan Payan def. Alonzo Martinez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) For the latest on "Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine," check out the MMA Events section of MMAjunkie.com.

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