He also kicks normally though, and relies less on claw damage. The bird of prey/raptor tie in is simply more for how he lands on his enemies from above, crushing them more than slicing them (Brutal but effective in the stories.
)Otherwise, he's a normal Savate and TKD master, who just happens to have a pair of powerful legs.
(and yes, it was simply a minmax. Regular unarmed is easier to stack higher than blades, though he does use the claws as well. We allow the twinking of limbs past regular race maxes, so long as you put in the extra nuyen, so in game, the legs are as maxed on strength as they can go. He's more of a story-character, in actuality.)
And IMO, the demon legs look a lot better than mech-legs. Since they still get the +2 to kick strength, I assume they are still as effective game-wise.