Keith Jardine Cut - Aftermath

[Turd Ferguson]

With a 15-8-1 record, your immediate thought on Keith Jardine would most likely be that he may not be the best fighter... especially with him being 1-5 in his last 6 fights. However, his record is very misleading. Give Jardine all the crap you want and make all the jokes you want about him, but it's not like he's faced bums.

His UFC losses were to:

1.) Stephan Bonnar - This is when he was still a hot commodity coming off of the fight with Forrest Griffin. Bonnar took a very close decision that could have gone to Jardine.

2.) Houston Alexander - Okay, you can't excuse this one.

3.) Wanderlei Silva - Wandy looked as good as he did in PRIDE in this very quick fight. Back in the PRIDE days, Wandy was a top 5 pound for pound fighter.

4.) Rampage Jackson - Took Rampage to a decision in a main event fight a lot of people thought he would lose and get dominated in. Stymied Rampage with leg kicks throughout the fight and came close to winning at a couple of points.

5.) Thiago Silva - Only two people have defeated Thiago: Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans. When Thiago Silva is on, he's one of the best at 205, and one of the most dangerous.

6.) Ryan Bader - Undefeated TUF winner who looks like he's a future light-heavyweight champion.

7.) Matt Hamill - Hamill is extremely tough to beat, and has a lot of heart. He also fucked Jardine up, severely, in this fight, and Keith kept fighting on. Hamill's only two real losses came to Rich Franklin and Jon Jones (the judges botched the Bisping fight).

Jardine's NOTABLE wins:

In addition to beating Kerry Schall and Mike Whitehead, Jardine has defeated:

1.) Wilson Gouveia - A very talented submission fighter.

2.) Forrest Griffin - This is the fight he made Forrest cry in after getting TKO'ed. Forrest had so much momentum going into this fight, and Jardine derailed the hype train.

3.) Chuck Liddell - This was when Chuck still had a chin, was one of the best overall at 205, and was still the most famous and popular fighter out there. Jardine took the decision in a very entertaining fight.

4.) Brandon Vera - This was supposed to be a fight to get Vera over as a legitimate 205 lber. Jardine derailed that hype train too.
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I think Keith Jardine got a very raw deal here. If there was one thing you could say about Keith Jardine: it's that you always were guaranteed an exciting fight full of entertainment value. That is evident by his two fight of the night awards, as well as how he's either knocking someone out in impressive fashion, or getting knocked out in impressive fashion. Sure, Jardine didn't win all the time, but he never backed down from a fight either. Win or lose, this is a very impressive resume, and it speaks volumes on Jardine's ability to entertain in that the UFC is always willing to put him in big fights. He even main evented two PPVs against two of the biggest stars of all time, winning one, and nearly winning the other.

Back when Wanderlei Silva was struggling at 205, despite many thinking he'd get cut... he didn't. Dana knows how he puts on exciting fights, and is a name. He's worth keeping around. Jardine puts on exciting fights and he is a name. Based on principle, especially how he's friends with Rashad Evans Jon Jones and trains with Greg Jackson, you would think he'd get one more shot. He didn't.

I think all Jardine needed was a chance to show what he could do against a lower-tier fighter, to ensure UFC fans he still had it. Now, he's a free agent.

Where do you think he lands? I'll weigh in with my thoughts later.

 

[Tha Wolfpac]

Hey Yo!

To be honest i ve seen Keith Jardine fight live in Australia vs Ryan Bader and it was an awesome fight competetive the whole way. Keith Jardine never gets completely dominated he always puts up a fight, seriously to me he is a valuable asset because he can elevate younger guys due to who he has won against in the past and because he has guaranteed entertainment value in his fights. So to be honest bad decision by the UFC. Unlucky Keith.

 

[Slyfox696]

Meh, what point is there in keeping Jardine? He's not a fighter who will make you money, he obviously is not a title contender, he can't move up to Heavyweight, and he's too big to be a Middleweight. In a division that can only be rivaled by the Heavyweights right now, he's 34 years old, and Dana can't find a guy he can beat. He puts on entertaining fights, but he loses them.

I think people knew this was coming. In the UFC, you can't prove you belong by fighting fly-by-night fighters, you do that in the minor leagues. So, Jardine will go some place else, probably Strikeforce, and if he can earn a few wins there and prove he can be a competitor, then UFC will look to hire him back.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

It really is no big surprise that Dana let him go. Losing for the fourth straight time and only winning 2 out of his last 8, didn't sit well with White and the UFC, especially when they pretty much use the lose 3 in a row and then your done he got lucky and was able to get another fight. Sure a few of those losses were in some close fights like the Rampage fight and most recently the Hamill fight, but fact is he still lost. Sly brought up a good point when saying he is not a title contender, the consecutive losses definitely has him ranked well out of the top 10 for LHW division. I'm not saying that you have to be a top 10 fighter to be with the UFC, but his progression is just going backwards instead of going forward.

Whats next for him? I would say a few fights in Strikeforce, their lightheavy weight division is fairly weak at the moment, there he can rebuild his career and within a fight or two if he wins can probably get a title shot against King Mo! I wouldn't rule out the possibilty of him signing with Bellator either. Again I'm gonna agree with Sly and say if he does put together a few wins, I'm sure the UFC will give him another fight in the future. The UFC does this all the time with people. At this time I think it is best for both sides to part ways.

 

[jmt225]

Meh, what point is there in keeping Jardine? He's not a fighter who will make you money, he obviously is not a title contender, he can't move up to Heavyweight, and he's too big to be a Middleweight. In a division that can only be rivaled by the Heavyweights right now, he's 34 years old, and Dana can't find a guy he can beat. He puts on entertaining fights, but he loses them.

Well, I think that's being a little too hard on him, man.

The fact is, if you look at Guy's list of fighters he fought recently, those are all top talent. There's no doubt Jardine could beat the lesser names in the UFC LHW Division. Also, the fact that he does put on exciting fights, against the best Light Heavyweights in the World, to me is enough to warrant at least one more fight, on a Fight Night or something like that, against someone, like, I don't know... Seth Petruzelli, for example, just to see where exactly Jardine is at.

Regardless of all that though, I do like the move. As I mentioned in the Tidbits thread, Strikeforce desperately needs another name in their Light Heavyweight Division, even if it's a "UFC Reject." There's no doubt Jardine is the perfect type to take on the likes of King Mo, Babalu, and Mousasi. Those are all great potential match-ups.

Also, I won't be surprised if Jardine doesn't sign with Strikeforce, and instead fights on one or two smaller shows, racking up a couple of wins, and then going back to the UFC. We've seen that happen plenty of times before... no reason to believe that Dana or whoever didn't tell Jardine to do just that and they would welcome him back to the company with open arms if he did.

 

[Slyfox696]

Well, I think that's being a little too hard on him, man.

The fact is, if you look at Guy's list of fighters he fought recently, those are all top talent. There's no doubt Jardine could beat the lesser names in the UFC LHW Division. Also, the fact that he does put on exciting fights, against the best Light Heavyweights in the World, to me is enough to warrant at least one more fight, on a Fight Night or something like that, against someone, like, I don't know... Seth Petruzelli, for example, just to see where exactly Jardine is at.

What's the point in keeping a guy who loses 4 fights in a row, to send him down to fight a scrub? Say he does beat Petruzelli, then what? Do you keep finding more scrubs to put him against? Or do you put him against a serious contender to watch him lose again?

At the end of the day, Jardine isn't a contender, and it doesn't make sense to me to pay a guy who will never be a contender and will never make you money.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

The thing about Jardine though, is that he's a classic gatekeeper for the division. He's a big enough name for fans to care about. He's appeared in movies/TV (sure, in bit roles, but he's still recognizable), and you know what you're getting out of him, which is a guy who is going to give people something to talk about. You use him as a litmus test for the up and comers in the division, like Bader and Hamill.

Chris Leben was in this role for awhile. He wasn't winning any fights and he tested positive for steroids, so the UFC used him as a guy to test some up and comers against... essentially, like Jardine, he was damaged goods. Now, he burst out of that role, because he beat a couple of younger guys, and is co-main eventing UFC 116, which might be the biggest card of the year. Like Jardine, Leben is one of the most exciting fighters in his division, despite not ever being a future champion. Just like Wanderlei Silva. He doesn't win all the time now, but he's still a name, and he puts on exciting fights. Dana himself has gone on record saying that as long as you put on exciting fights, you should have a home in the UFC.

The UFC needs depth guys. Jardine provided some great depth for the division, and he was a guy who you could throw on the main card of either a PPV or a Fight Night, and you knew you were going to get an entertaining fight out of him.

It's why the UFC inexplicably re-signed Phil Baroni last year. He's a complete bum, and will never sniff anything close to title contention, but he's a guy who provides a litmus test for younger, up and coming fighters. In other words, if the prospect can't beat the can, you know where he stands.

It's not like Jardine was out there losing to Rodney "Sho 'Nuff The Master" Wallace... these are very legitimate and tough names he lost to. One more fight against someone like Brian Stann or Tim Boetsch, or someone of that nature would have been the best way to find out if Jardine could still hang.

As far as what Jardine's future is... I think he'll fight on the independents for a couple of shows, maybe get a rematch against Houston Alexander somewhere, and then return to the UFC. He has strong ties to the UFC, and Dana even said that it "sucked" to release him. Maybe, like Jeff said, Dana just wants him to win a couple of fights for his own mental health before returning to the UFC.

 

[INDYjon22]

My best guess is that Jardine winds up in Strikeforce. They have a very weak Light Heavyweight division and a fight with King Mo has awesome written all over it. However, he would have to work his way up to a fight with Mo.

I have always been a fan of Jardine and the man always puts on an entertaining show. I really do think he should have gotten one more fight but you can't really argue against him being cut seeing as he has lost 4 fights in a row, regardless of how exciting they may have been. I wish the UFC would have given him some more fights against lesser talents but it does show a lot about how the UFC thought of him seeing as they only gave him big fights that were with very good talents. I hope he can land on his feet and pick up some wins in smaller companies or Strikeforce and maybe one day he can return to the UFC.