
“I’d like to keep what my injuries were on the low side of things, but I basically got sick of dealing with them,” the Belgian-born boxing specialist told UFC.com. “When I fought Nate Marquardt I had a nagging injury that I didn’t treat, and when I went to fight Robbie Lawler [at UFC on FOX 8 in July], another injury occurred. I figured I’d treat both at the same time.”
Here, Saffiedine lets us in on some of the secrets to throwing a perfect punch.
Polishing His Power
A win is a win, but Saffiedine understands that a an early knockout always makes a good impression -- the kind he hopes to make in his UFC debut. Saffiedine offers this advice if you’re looking to develop knockout power with your punches or kicks,
Build a foundation. “Get a good coach and start with the basics. Learn to throw a proper punch, knee, and kick, and then add strength conditioning. Kicking a pad will develop power in the legs, but there is a strength and conditioning element, too.”

Put your body into it. “Heavy punches come from the back, hip, arm, feet, and legs — it’s a transfer of strength.”
Blast off. “Do a lot of plyometric work with medicine balls and movements that involve jumps and developing explosive power.”
Take a step back. Finally, treat your body right and listen to it if you're injured. Getting back to perfect health wasn’t an easy task for Saffiedine: Here’s a guy who typically trains three times a day six days per week, forced to watch watching from the sidelines. The timing made things even worse; after being picked up by UFC when the promotion absorbed Strikeforce, Sponge was itching to showcase his skills in the Octagon, not a physical therapist's office.

Instead of dwelling on the negatives, Saffeidine focused on staying upbeat. “I was supposed to fight Lawler and it didn’t work out,” he explained. “But I stayed positive and did what I needed to do. Now I have this opportunity on January 4. I think it all happened for a reason.”
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