Keith Jardine: The Hardest Working Man in MMA, Part Three

As we come to the conclusion of this series of articles on Keith Jardine, we continue on from Keith's brutal loss to Wanderlei Silva.

As reluctant as UFC brass was to promote Jardine, many fans seemed equally unwilling to back him has a fighter. They all had their reasons, whether it was his awkward style, his inconsistency, or his "weak chin."

As a result of this, it made it harder for the UFC to effectively "guide" his matchmaking, as—let’s not lie to ourselves—they do from time to time with fighters they think have "star potential."

He had losses against a few fighters he was supposed to beat on paper, yet he had also made a habit of upsetting people he was supposed to lose to. When promoting a fighter with that sort of volatility, there isn't much to do besides put him in his fights and admit that no one has any idea what's going to happen.

Coupled with this is the fact that Jardine never really did anything to make himself stand out from the crowd; he doesn't sport a wacky haircut, he doesn't cover himself with tattoos, and talk endless smack about his opponents.

As a person, Jardine comes across as humble, down to earth, and a genuinely likable, if bland, guy. The most exciting thing about him is his goatee.

But inside that cage, Jardine is a beast of a man, fearless in exchanges, unpredictable, unorthodox, and willing to do anything he can do win. He also has a habit of being involved in the fight of the night, whether he wants to or not.

Coming off the loss to Silva, Jardine was matched up against newly-minted light heavyweight Brandon Vera. Once a heavyweight prospect, Vera had run up against some enormous stumbling blocks in Tim Sylvia and Fabricio Werdum, and had decided to make the drop to his more natural weight class of 205 pounds.

However, his first fight in LHW was an uninspired decision victory over Reese Andy, a fight that was apparently boring enough to have people sounding the death knell of Vera's career, despite it being a win.

The solution? Put him in the cage with Jardine.

The UFC had finally found a niche for the “Dean of Mean” as a measuring stick, a credible opponent, and as a bonus, someone that it was nearly impossible to have a boring fight with.

The result? In a back and forth battle, Vera looked to improve much over his form in his last fight, and Jardine was his usual tenacious self, edging out Vera on two of the judges' scorecards to win the nod in a split decision.

Jardine's post fight interview was key in defining his newly-emerging role as the working-class fighter. He admitted that the fight was close, gave respect, and credit to his opponent, and simply said, "I'm getting to fight the best fighters in the world. What more could a guy ask for?"

Jardine's latest fight was the result of the ever-chaotic LHW title picture. The title had already changed hands twice since his victory over Liddell, and earning a shot at the belt had become a crapshoot; almost as much a product of availability as it was of merit.

The timing of the division is another thing that never really seemed to favor Jardine, as his former KO victim Forrest Griffin had won the title from Quinton Jackson at a time when he had just lost to Silva, knocking him out of contention.

A month before his comeback fight against Vera, Keith's teammate Rashad Evans had scored a spectacular knockout over Chuck Liddell—due in no small part to help in preparation from Jardine himself—and scored himself a title shot.

Evans managed to repeat Keith's feat from years earlier, notching a technical knockout over Griffin, winning the strap, and effectively shutting Jardine out of the title picture yet again.

In a bizarre twist, Jardine then took on former champion Rampage Jackson, in a strange situation where Rampage would earn a title shot with a victory, but if Jardine pulled out a win, he would not, because he would not fight his teammate.

If you've been paying attention, you could probably describe the fight yourself by now. Jardine was resolute, and Rampage was shocked with his durability.

The former champ claimed he was overtrained for the fight, but for whatever reason, Jardine was wearing him down and even had the normally unflappable Jackson in trouble against the fence at one point.

As fate would have it, Rampage executed a beautiful parry and counter with 10 seconds left in the fight, knocking Jardine to the canvas. He scrambled back to his feet, but the look on his face told the story. In a fight as close as this one was, he had lost the round, and likely the decision.

And he would be correct, as the judges gave Jackson the unanimous decision win after three hard-fought rounds. According to Jardine, one judge told him after the fight that he had "lost the fight in the last ten seconds," which was gut-wrenching to the fighter.

The fact remains, however, that while Jardine may never be a champion—although he very well could be one—he has stood in the octagon with an incredibly high level of competition, and never once has he delivered any less than advertised: a hard-fought battle, with everything on the line.

He embodies the unpredictable nature of the sport we love. The man is practically a walking upset victory or loss waiting to happen. He's a decent person, a hard worker, and doesn't expect anything more than to be given what he's earned, and to fight the best competition available to him.

I'm sure Jardine is due to fight again in a month or two, and I'm sure of two things. He will probably not bring himself any closer to a title shot, and it will probably be a contender for the fight of the night.