Tarec Saffiedine may have been on the sidelines for the better part of the past six months, but he certainly is not looking for any warm-up fights when he makes his return to the octagon.
The former Strikeforce welterweight champion has been out of competition since a January win over Hyun Gyu Lim in Singapore. Twice the welterweight was slotted in match-ups against Jake Ellenberger, the most recent of which was at UFC 172. Saffiedine withdrew from that scheduled contest after suffering an undisclosed injury during training.
While he has not fully recovered from the injury, Saffiedine revealed that if he were to have a 6-7 week training camp for his return, he would be prepared to step inside the octagon in September. He also hopes that the UFC brass considers Rory MacDonald as his next opponent.
"I'm trying to get a fight around September," Saffiedine told MMAJunkie.com. "That would give me a little bit of time to get back in shape before starting camp. I don't want to go just right away into camp. I'd like to get back into the shape you need to be before camp. I'd love to have a camp of six or seven weeks for my next fight, and so that's why I'm hoping to fight in September."
Saffiedine's request to fight MacDonald is not a new one, as he first revealed his interest in that fight two weeks ago on The MMA Hour. He reiterated his words again, this time insisting that he can defeat the Canadian youngster.
"With the proper camp and me doing everything I need to do, I know I can beat that guy. He's close to the title shot, so it's a fight I'd love to have. I think we can put on an amazing fight, and I believe that my style can beat his style, without a doubt."