UFC 84: The Trouble with Keith Jardine-Wanderlei Silva

What the hell happened?  This fight shouldn't be happening.  I think we'd all rather see Silva take on Ortiz.

It wasn't too long ago (over 1 year in the MMA world), that I remember Keith underestimating an incredibly eager Houston Alexander and getting beat soundly in the first round.  I'll never forget that lopsided fight, and if you look at the careers of both men since that fight, it seems that Jardine learned from that mistake, and Houston, well let's just say it all ended for him in about 8 seconds.  Well that's not enough for me to believe in Jardine.  He beat Chuck Liddell.  So what?  Chuck Liddell is not invincible.  A great opportunist with knockout power, yes, but not invincible.

Now you Jardine fans might say, "What about Forrest Griffin?".  Ok, well let's look at that fight.  I strongly remember Griffin crying his eyes out after that fight.  Forrest has lost before, and never showed that much emotion afterwards.  Do you honestly think that he was in the proper state of mind before that fight?

Now let's do the "Silva mathematics".  Silva is the only fighter to have beat "Rampage" Jackson twice.  Jackson has never avenged those losses.  Silva has beat Dan Henderson.  Now, to be fair, Silva has been on a losing streak recently, but let's look at those losses.  1st was Cro-cop.  How many times have you seen fighters lost or almost lose (Fedor) to Cro-cop, because of a well timed strike?  We all know Filipovic has the ability to beat anyone if they're not careful in their defences, which is exactly what happened to Silva when they fought.  Second is Dan Henderson.  To those of you who have followed Dan Henderson's career, you'll know that Dan's fight record lately hasn't really shown his ability, as he's fought two incredibly strong fighters (Jackson and Anderson Silva).  And 3rd is Liddell.  Well we all saw that.  Silva seemed to be holding back for the entire fight.

Keith Jardine may be a strong fighter, (he reminds me of Chuck Liddell, with a little more power, but less in-ring intelligence, hence the reason why their last fight was so close.) but I personally don't think he has the smarts to beat Silva.  Liddell beat Silva because he took his time and chose his shots.  Keith Jardine won't take his time, and Silva will make him pay for every mistake.  Believe me, Silva learned from his mistakes with Liddell, and I think we'll see the "real" Axe Murderer this time around.

To put it all in perspective, if Silva is hoping to continue having a successful career in MMA, he'll have learned from is recent mistakes and won't lose to Keith Jardine.  If Jardine wins, well I'll eat my words, and bow down to his ability (maybe).