Keith Jardine

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Keith Hector Jardine (born October 31, 1975), also known as "The Dean of Mean", is an American mixed martial artist (MMA), currently fighting at light heavyweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He made his debut with the organization on The Ultimate Fighter 2, where he was cast as a heavyweight under coach Rich Franklin. He currently trains with Jackson's Submission Fighting. He holds notable wins over Kerry Schall, Mike Whitehead, Wilson Gouveia, Forrest Griffin, and Chuck Liddell.

1 Career
- 1.1 The Ultimate Fighter
- 1.2 UFC career
2 Mixed Martial Arts Record
3 Gallery
4 External links

Career

Before Martial Arts, Jardine worked in many different jobs including debt collector, miner, bounty hunter, and football coach. He was also involved in a semi-pro football league. During this time, he started participating in wrestling tournaments without having any experience or background in wrestling.[citation needed] He won these tournaments and then became interested in kickboxing; that's when he met Greg Jackson and decided to leave everything behind and move to New Mexico. Jardine made his professional Mixed Martial Arts debut on August 19, 2001, defeating Amir Rahnavardi by armbar submission. He would win five out of his next six bouts, suffering one knockout loss to Travis Wiuff, before debuting in the Japanese Pancrase organization in 2003. Jardine's bout in Pancrase, with Keiichiro Yamamiya, ended in a draw. Jardine defeated his next two opponents, including a submission win over Red Devil Sport Club fighter Arman Gambaryan, before appearing on The Ultimate Fighter Season 2.

The Ultimate Fighter

In 2005, Jardine was cast on The Ultimate Fighter 2, a team-based reality television show created by the UFC, as a heavyweight competitor, and was the first heavyweight to be recruited to the team of then UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin. Jardine was one of the favorites to proceed to the heavyweight division's finals, but was not selected to fight until the semi-finals, where he was defeated by eventual season two heavyweight winner, and his teammate at Greg Jackson's camp, Rashad Evans.

UFC career

Although Jardine was eliminated from The Ultimate Fighter, his tenure with the Ultimate Fighting Championship continued. Jardine made his first appearance on an official UFC fight card at the The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale, defeating fellow season two heavyweight Kerry Schall by TKO due to leg kicks. Jardine subsequently dropped down a weight class to the light heavyweight division, and defeated Mike Whitehead, another TUF 2 competitor, by unanimous decision at UFC 57.

In April, 2006, Jardine fought The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 light heavyweight finalist Stephan Bonnar at Ultimate Fight Night 4. In a closely contested bout, Jardine lost a unanimous decision, but gained a great deal of fan and media support after the bout. Quoting Jardine, "Everyone knows that that Bonnar fight should have been my fight[...] I still get approached everyday about that. I am 3-1, but I don't necessarily look at it that way."

His next fight in the UFC was against American Top Team's Wilson Gouveia at The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale. Although Jardine appeared to lose the first round according to color commentator Joe Rogan, he defeated Gouveia by unanimous decision after three rounds. Jardine was then scheduled to fight Mike Nickels, a light heavyweight competitor from the third season of The Ultimate Fighter, but Nickels was forced to withdraw due to a back injury.

At UFC 66, Jardine scored a TKO victory in the first round over winner of The Ultimate Fighter Season 1, Forrest Griffin. Jardine's next fight was against UFC newcomer Houston Alexander at UFC 71. After having complained about having to face an unknown fighter when he felt he deserved a more high profile match, Jardine was knocked out 48 seconds into the first round by Alexander.

Jardine was given the oppurtunity after the loss to Alexander to face fellow UFC 71 loser, and former UFC light heavyweight champion, Chuck Liddell at UFC 76. In a major upset, Jardine upset Liddell via split decision.

With the win over Liddell, Jardine was given another former champion, in former PRIDE middleweight champion, Wanderlei Silva. Silva defeated Jardine via devastating KO early in the first round.

Looking to rebound from the demolition at the hands of Silva, Jardine faced off against Brandon Vera at UFC 89. In a close fight, Jardine edged Vera via split decision to start his trek back up the UFC light heavyweight ladder.