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| Luke Rockhold looks to outwork another MMA legend this Saturday night. This time defending his title against Keith Jardine. |
See, Jardine has spent his whole career above the 200-lb.
marker and never once had he fought as anything near a middleweight. For him to
do so near, what many assume, the end of his career is odd. That hasn’t led to
the champ, Rockhold, to take him lightly.
Luke comes in riding a seven-fight win streak, all of which
happened in Strikeforce, and his last fight was his title win over Ronaldo
Souza at Strikeforce World Grand Prix: Barnett vs. Kharitonov. He has become
known as a dangerous submission artist, he holds a brown belt in BJJ, and
training with the folks at American Kickboxing Academy has helped his wrestling
and standup as well.
On the other side of the spectrum is Keith Jardine, the
challenger. The closest he ever got to holding a title was losing a No. 1
contender’s bout for the UFC light heavyweight title to Rampage Jackson in
2009. He’s 2-5-1 in his last eight bouts, the draw coming against Gegard
Mousasi in his Strikeforce debut. Jardine still has the same skill set, but it needs to be asked if those skill sets have diminished or are they as good as ever?
If Jardine wants to strike, Rockhold has shown he is more than willing to exchange strikes. Either man can take this match to the mat and whoever is better on the ground with wrestling and BJJ should have an upper-hand the longer the match goes.
Jardine’s only clear advantage over Rockhold is his
experience. Rockhold has the slight height, weight and reach advantage. He is
nine years younger than Jardine and is riding a greater wave of success. There
are countless ways this fight can end and more that we can’t even imagine.
Either way you look at it, Rockhold is a formidable champion
and a win over Jardine would go a long way in bringing prestige to himself and
to his title.
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Twitter at @NiteshDutt
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