The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) came to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with hometown hero Rory McDonald taking one step closer to a title shot by finishing Belgian fighter Tarec Saffiedine.

Coming into the fight, Saffiedine was on a five-fight win streak. McDonald looked to end the streak in devastating fashion, not utilizing any game plan and just feeling out the situation, he said in an earlier interview.

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McDonald enjoyed a six inch reach advantage in the fight. Early on, the two fighters squared off with each other. McDonald used his long jabs, and Saffiedine looked to use his footwork and stance changes to get past the reach of the Canadian.

Saffiedine found some success with his leg kicks, but McDonald had the better of most of the night's action. He hit Saffiedine with jabs and straight, catching his kicks as well and taking him down to pound him out.

In the third round, McDonald got close enough to land a devastating overhand right and left uppercut combination that rocked Saffiedine and ended the fight.

With this win, McDonald looked poised to challenge the winner between welterweight champion Johny Hendricks and number one contender Robbie Lawler. His performance also netted him a bonus worth US $50,000.

The co-main event had Brazilian bantamweight Raphael Assuncao - currently on a seven-fight win streak - beat Bryan Carraway by unanimous decision.

Chad Laprise showcased his stand-up skills against Yosdenis Cedeno, Elias Theodorou fought took the fight everywhere with Bruno Santos, and Nordine Taleb won against Li Jingliang, with all fights ending by decision.

The first fight of the main card between Mitch Gagnon and Roman Salazar was the only fight that ended with a submission, with the former submitting Salazar with a rear-naked choke in the first.

TagsUFC, Halifax, Rory McDonald, Tarec Saffiedine