Keith Jardine - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Keith Hector Jardine is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Mixed martial arts

Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

who competes in the light heavyweight

Light Heavyweight (MMA)

The light heavyweight division in mixed martial arts generally refers to competitors weighing between 186 and 205 lb . It sits between the lighter middleweight division, and the heavyweight division....

division and is best known for his time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship

Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...

. He holds notable victories over the likes of Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell

Charles David "Chuck" Liddell is a retired American mixed martial artist and former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion. Liddell has an extensive striking background in Kempo, Koei-Kan karate and kickboxing, as well as a grappling background in collegiate wrestling.As of his...

, Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin is an American mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC light heavyweight champion....

, Mike Whitehead

Mike Whitehead

Michael Joe Whitehead is a professional mixed martial arts fighter. He has fought in the light heavyweight and heavyweight weight classes for the UFC, IFL, Affliction, and Strikeforce.-Mixed martial arts career:...

as well as Brandon Vera

Brandon Vera

Brandon Michael Vera is an American mixed martial artist. He competes as a light heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the winner of the WEC 13 Heavyweight Tournament and currently resides in San Diego, California. He holds notable victories over Frank Mir, Assuerio Silva,...

Mixed martial arts career

Jardine made his professional Mixed Martial Arts

Mixed martial arts

debut in 2001, defeating Amir Rahnavardi by armbar submission. He would win five out of his next six bouts, suffering one knockout

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

loss to Travis Wiuff

Travis Wiuff

Travis Wiuff is a mixed martial arts fighter born in Minnesota, United States. He competes in the Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight divisions...

six second into the fight, before debuting in the Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese Pancrase

Pancrase

Pancrase is a mixed martial arts promotion company founded in Japan in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. Pancrase is taken from Pankration, a sport in the ancient Olympic games. Suzuki and Funaki are particularly skilled in the art of catch wrestling and based the...

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 2.

The Ultimate Fighter

In 2005, Jardine was cast on the second season

The Ultimate Fighter 2

The Ultimate Fighter 2 was the second season of the mixed martial arts reality television series The Ultimate Fighter. The season featured a heavyweight and a welterweight division, with 9 fighters initially in each division. The UFC coaches for this season were welterweight and middleweight...

of The Ultimate Fighter
The Ultimate Fighter
The Ultimate Fighter is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts competition produced by Spike TV and the Ultimate Fighting Championship , and soon to be shown on FX. The show features unknown, professional MMA fighters living together in Las Vegas, Nevada, and follows them as...

, a team-based reality television

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

show created by the UFC, as a heavyweight competitor. He was the first heavyweight to be chosen by team coach and then UFC middleweight

Middleweight (MMA)

The middleweight division in mixed martial arts can refer to a number of different weight classes:*UFC's & Strikeforce's middleweight division, which groups competitors within 171 to 185 lb...

champion Rich Franklin

Rich Franklin

Rich Jay Franklin II is an American mixed martial artist and former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion.-Background:...

. Although considered a favorite to proceed the heavyweight division's finals, Jardine was not selected to fight until the semi-finals, where he was defeated by eventual heavyweight winner and his future sparring partner, Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans

Rashad Anton Evans is an American mixed martial artist from Niagara Falls, New York, currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Evans won the heavyweight division of The Ultimate Fighter 2. Evans lost the UFC Light Heavyweight...

UFC career

Jardine made his first appearance on an official UFC fight card at The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale
The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale
The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on November 5, 2005. Featured were the finals from The Ultimate Fighter 2 in both the Welterweight and Heavyweight divisions as well as a main event between Diego Sanchez and Nick...

, defeating fellow season two heavyweight Kerry Schall by TKO due to leg kicks. Jardine was signed to the UFC and subsequently dropped down a weight class to the light heavyweight division. His next appearance was at UFC 57
UFC 57
UFC 57: Liddell vs. Couture 3 was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on February 4, 2006. It was held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, and broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States.Headlining the card was an anticipated...

where he defeated Mike Whitehead

Mike Whitehead

, another The Ultimate Fighter 2 competitor, by unanimous decision.

In April 2006, Jardine fought The Ultimate Fighter 1
The Ultimate Fighter 1
The debut season of The Ultimate Fighter premiered on January 17, 2005. Sixteen mixed martial arts fighters were invited to participate in the show where they would reside together and train in two separate teams...

light heavyweight finalist Stephan Bonnar

Stephan Bonnar

Stephan Patrick Bonnar is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes for the Ultimate Fighting Championship...

at Ultimate Fight Night 4. Jardine lost the fight in due to a very controversial unanimous decision, but gained a great deal of fan and media support after the bout. After the fight, Jardine stated, "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."

Jardine next faced American Top Team

American Top Team

American Top Team is one of the leading teams in mixed martial arts. It was founded by former members of Brazilian Top Team, Ricardo Liborio, Marcus Silveira and Marcelo Silveira but there is no formal affiliation between the two teams. ATT's main academy is in Coconut Creek, Florida but has...

's Wilson Gouveia

Wilson Gouveia

Wilson Gouveia is a Brazilian mixed martial artist.At and , Gouveia fights as a light heavyweight in the Maximum Fighting Championships organization after a stint as a middleweight in the UFC. He holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and is a member of American Top Team...

at The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale
The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale
The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 24, 2006. Featured were the finals from The Ultimate Fighter 3 in both the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight divisions as well as a main event between Kenny Florian and Sam Stout.During...

. Although color commentator

Color commentator

A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...

Joe Rogan

Joseph James "Joe" Rogan is an American comedian, video blogger, actor, writer, podcaster, and martial artist. He is best known for his work on NewsRadio, his work as color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and his hosting work on Fear Factor.-Acting:In 1994, Rogan co-starred on...

believed that he lost the first round, Jardine managed to bounce back and defeat Gouveia by unanimous decision after three rounds. Jardine was then scheduled to fight Mike Nickels

Mike Nickels

Michael John Nickels is an American Mixed Martial Arts fighter and a Black belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. Along with many other victories in Brazilain Jiu-Jitsu and MMA, Nickels is a 3X Pan American Gold medalist, and a UFC vet...

, a light heavyweight competitor from the third season of The Ultimate Fighter, but Nickels was forced to withdraw due to a back injury. Instead, he next faced The Ultimate Fighter 1
The Ultimate Fighter 1
The debut season of The Ultimate Fighter premiered on January 17, 2005. Sixteen mixed martial arts fighters were invited to participate in the show where they would reside together and train in two separate teams...

light heavyweight winner Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin is an American mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC light heavyweight champion....

at UFC 66
UFC 66
UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 30, 2006 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada .-Background:...

. Although considered an underdog in the bout, Jardine scored a TKO victory in the first round after he floored Forrest then took the full guard and brought many right hands over the top to cause the stoppage. At UFC 71
UFC 71
UFC 71: Liddell vs. Jackson was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The event took place on Saturday, May 26, 2007 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Background:...

, Jardine was scheduled to fight UFC newcomer Houston Alexander

Houston Alexander

Houston Alexander is an American professional mixed martial artist, who fights as a light heavyweight and heavyweight. He also works as a DJ in North Omaha, Nebraska...

. During his pre-fight interview, Jardine complained about being matched against a unknown newcomer, believing that he deserved an opponent with a higher profile. During the fight, Jardine quickly knocked Alexander down with a punch, but the newcomer promptly returned to his feet and knocked Jardine out just 48 seconds into the first round in a major upset.

Jardine was then matched up against former long-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell

at UFC 76
UFC 76
UFC 76: Knockout was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship . The event took place on September 22, 2007 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California...

. The bout was Liddell's first fight since losing his belt to Quinton Jackson

Quinton Jackson

Quinton Ramone Jackson ;, also known as Rampage Jackson, is an American mixed martial artist and actor. He is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Jackson rose to prominence in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships where he was noted for his powerful body slams including a knockout victory over...

. Jardine landed numerous unchecked leg kicks and several body kicks to Liddell's side throughout the fight, which was spent almost totally on the feet. The bout was ruled a split decision in Jardine's favor, turning him into a top contender for the light heavyweight championship. First, however, Jardine faced former long-time Pride middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva

Wanderlei Silva

Wanderlei César da Silva , nicknamed "The Axe Murderer", is a Brazilian mixed martial artist, who has competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and the American based Ultimate Fighting Championship . Silva is known for his aggressive fighting style with the majority of his fights ending in...

. Silva swarmed Jardine with punches and knocked him out just 36 seconds into the first round. Jardine had to be helped up after the fight and was sent to the local hospital for observation.

After this loss, Jardine faced Brandon Vera

Brandon Vera

at UFC 89
UFC 89
UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on October 18, 2008 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. The event was headlined by a middleweight bout between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben...

. Although it appeared that Vera damaged Jardine's knee with a front-kick in the second round, Jardine ultimately earned a split decision victory over Vera. In a post-fight interview, Jardine stated that the injury was minor. With the victory, Jardine earned a shot at Quinton Jackson

Quinton Jackson

at UFC 96
UFC 96
UFC 96: Jackson vs. Jardine was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship . It was held in Columbus, Ohio on March 7, 2009 at Nationwide Arena.-Preliminary card:...

. Although the fight was considered an elimination bout for title contention, Jardine and former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans are close friends and training partners and both have stated that they will not fight each other. In a very close fight, Jardine lost a controversial unanimous decision. The bout was the Fight of the Night earning them a $60,000 bonus. Jardine was the last man to fight Jackson before his temporary retirement.

Jardine was knocked out by Thiago Silva at UFC 102
UFC 102
UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 29, 2009 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon...

1:35 in the first round.

Jardine suffered his second consecutive knockout and third straight loss at the hands of Ryan Bader

Ryan Bader

Ryan DuWayne Bader is an American professional mixed martial artist. He was a cast member of Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir. On December 13, 2008, Bader defeated Vinicius Magalhães to win a contract with the UFC and the title of The Ultimate Fighter...

on February 21, 2010 at UFC 110

UFC 110

UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Sunday, 21 February 2010 in Sydney, Australia, at the Acer Arena. The event marked the UFC's first trip to Australia. The main card was scheduled for 2:00 pm Sunday in Sydney to cater...

. After being rocked by a straight right from Bader, he received a flying knee to the ribs and then a hook to the chin that knocked him out, two minutes into the third round.

Jardine faced Matt Hamill

Matt Hamill

Matthew S. Hamill is a retired American wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is a three-time NCAA Division III National Champion in wrestling while attending the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York...

on June 19, 2010 at The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz Finale

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz Finale

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz Finale, also referred to as The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale was a mixed martial arts event that was held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on June 19, 2010. Featured were the...

. He lost the fight via majority decision, in a bout that earned Fight of the Night honors. Subsequently, he was released by the UFC on June 24, 2010.

Post-UFC

Jardine's first fight since leaving the UFC was against Shark Fights

Shark Fights

Shark Fights is a Mixed Martial Arts promotion based out of Amarillo, Texas. It made its debut on October 24, 2008. On September 11, 2010 Shark Fights had its biggest card in Shark Fights history by having former UFC veterans Keith Jardine, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Paul Daley, and Houston...

light heavyweight champion Trevor Prangley

Trevor Prangley

Trevor Prangley is a South African mixed martial artist who currently fights for Strikeforce. He has previously fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and competes in the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions...

in a non-title bout at Shark Fights 13: Jardine vs. Prangley on September 11, 2010. Jardine lost to Prangley via split decision, bringing his losing streak to five-in-a-row. After the fight he was given an indefinite suspension by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for shoving referee Steve Armstrong prior to the fight.

Jardine was scheduled to face Francisco France

Francisco France (fighter)

Francisco France is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. France trains with the American Top Team of Missouri and Florida...

at Nemesis Fighting: MMA Global Invasion on November 13, 2010, but the event was postponed to avoid a storm. The new date for the event was December 10, 2010.

Jardine defeated Francisco via Unanimous Decision and snapped his five fight losing streak. The win at Nemesis was surrounded by controversy, as there were no judges at the event. Jardine and other MMA fighters on the card were also never paid by the promotion.

Jardine next took on Maximum Fighting Championship veteran Aron Lofton in a event at the Route 66 Casino outside Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jardine was victorious via TKO(punches) at 3:30 of the first round.

Strikeforce

Jardine signed with Strikeforce as a late replacement for the injured Mike Kyle

Mike Kyle

Mike Kyle is an American mixed martial artist who competes as a light heavyweight and heavyweight. He fights primarily for Strikeforce and King of the Cage. He is the King of the Cage Light Heavyweight champion...

to face Gegard Mousasi

Gegard Mousasi

Gegard Mousasi, born Geghard Movsesian is an Armenian-Dutch mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He is fighting out of Team Jurojin in Leiden, Netherlands and is a member of Russian Red Devil Sport Club and Netherlands' Golden Glory...

on the April 9th card in San Diego. The hard-fought fight ultimately ended in a majority draw due to Mousasi being deducted one point in the first round for an illegal upkick. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has stated a rematch may be in the cards in the near future.

Jardine stated that after his fight with Mousasi, he will drop down to the Middleweight

Middleweight (MMA)

The middleweight division in mixed martial arts can refer to a number of different weight classes:*UFC's & Strikeforce's middleweight division, which groups competitors within 171 to 185 lb...

division and that he wants to fight former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le

Cung Le

Cung Le is a Vietnamese-American Sanshou kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and actor from Saigon, Vietnam currently competing in the UFC. He is the former IKF Light Heavyweight San Shou World Champion and has a professional San Shou record of 16-0 before moving to mixed martial arts...

. However, Cung Le has recently signed with the UFC, leaving Keith Jardine's future in question.

Boxing

Jardine has fought four bouts as a professional boxer. His professional boxing record is three wins with one draw. His last boxing bout was against Jason Cordova and took place on August 20, 2004. The bout was ruled a draw.

Acting career

Jardine appeared in the movie Crank: High Voltage, starring Jason Statham

Jason Statham

Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...

. Jardine also appeared in Gamer, starring Gerard Butler

Gerard Butler

Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...

. He was also featured in the Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White , a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at the beginning of the series...

Season 3

Breaking Bad (season 3)

The third season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad premiered on March 21, 2010 and concluded on June 13, 2010. It consisted of 13 episodes, each running approximately 47 minutes in length. AMC broadcast the third season on Sundays at 10:00 pm in the United States...

episode "I.F.T", where he played a criminal who gets into a bar fight. Keith also appeared in the 2011 film Tactical Force, the 2008 film Beer For My Horses
Beer for My Horses (film)
Beer for My Horses is a 2008 American feature film comedy. The film stars country music entertainer Toby Keith and is based on his song by the same name...

, He has also appeared in Unrivaled

Unrivaled

Unrivaled is a 2010 film starring, written and produced by Hector Echavarria as down-and-out cage fighter Ringo Duran.- PLOT :The best fighter in the world works two jobs and supports his sister. The only problem… he doesn’t know he’s the best. Ringo Duran, the son of Gracie Duran, a famous...

and Death Warrior.

Mixed martial arts record

Gegard Mousasi

| Draw (majority)
| Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley

Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley

Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley was a mixed martial arts event held by Strikeforce, the event took place on April 9, 2011, at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California.-Background:This was the first "Arena Series" event under Zuffa management....

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...