Jardine’s Focus begins with the Man in the Mirror
Thomas sent this in:
Keith Jardine doesn’t have much to say about Ryan Bader. It’s not that he dislikes the former Arizona State wrestling standout or hasn’t seen how he’s progressed in a mixed martial arts career that has seen him put together a stellar 11-0 pro record. It’s just that as his UFC 110 bout against Bader approaches this weekend, ‘The Dean of Mean’ has other things on his mind.
Like himself.
“I’ve not even been thinking about him too much,” said Jardine of Bader. “I’m thinking about myself and restarting my career.”
This would be as good a time as any for the 34-year old from Albuquerque, who is looking to shake off a 2009 campaign that saw him lose a close decision to Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson in March and then get stopped in a single stanza by Brazilian bomber Thiago Silva in August. Not exactly one for the scrapbook.
“It was a bad year,” he admits. “But I’m just excited to start a new year and a new chapter.”
To that end, Jardine has gone to the woodshed with Greg Jackson and his team, tweaking the little things that have kept him from being consistent in the Octagon. Frankly, that inconsistency has plagued him for years. When Jardine is on, he beats guys like Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell, and Brandon Vera, and Wilson Gouveia. When he’s not, he winds up on the short end of bouts against Jackson, Thiago and Wanderlei Silva, and Houston Alexander. He knows that has to change – now.
“I’ve had so many ups and downs in my career, and there have been little subtle things that I’ve been doing wrong, and that’s what I’ve been trying to attack (in this camp),” he said. “Those subtle things aren’t so apparent when you watch film, and I feel like I’m patching everything together finally now.”
He’s had plenty of time to tighten up his game, as he was back in the gym almost immediately after last summer’s loss to Silva. The quick turnaround allowed him to get his mind off the defeat and also stay in shape as he burned up the phone lines to another Silva – UFC matchmaker Joe – in the hopes of getting another fight immediately or to step in if someone got injured.
“It (the waiting) was real tough,” said Jardine. “I kept calling Joe Silva, trying to get fights. After I lose, the first thing I do is start looking at the rumor mill on the cards and seeing what looks like it’s open, and wanting to fight as quick as I can. I’ve been staying in shape just in case somebody got injured because I wasn’t gonna turn down any calls that I got.”
But the benefits of staying in the gym are apparent for him, as when he finally got the call to face Bader at UFC 110, he was ready to go.
“This is the best shape I’ve ever been in, no question about it, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to show off,” he said. “I’ve been in training camp for the last four months, I haven’t taken any time off, and I’m just so motivated to turn the next chapter of my career and start over again. I didn’t even care if I was on the undercard when I got this fight and I didn’t care who it was. I just wanted to go out there and fight again and kinda start from scratch a little bit. I’m very excited, and it could be anybody I’m fighting; I’d treat it the same.”
That’s a good thing for fight fans, because win or lose, you can’t say that Jardine has ever been in a boring fight. Something’s going to happen when he’s in the Octagon, and it’s made him a fan favorite, as evidenced by a recent trip to Las Vegas for his friend and teammate Rashad Evans’ UFC 108 main event against Thiago Silva, where he signed plenty of autographs and took picture after picture. Add in that he also has his own action figure, and it’s evident that he’s come a long way since his 2001 pro debut.
“Here in Albuquerque, I live pretty simply,” said Jardine, a native of Butte, Montana. “I don’t get out a lot, I don’t go to bars and do things like that, so when I do make an appearance or go to Vegas, I try to look at it as more of an opportunity to meet the fans and try to treat it as an opportunity and not a burden because we’re all lucky to be where we are. I think I got away from it too much for a while, but now I’m back doing it and I got a real kick out of walking around the arena and signing autographs and doing all that stuff. I was in the game when there was nothing going on and I got paid a couple hundred dollars for a fight, so I’m pretty happy right now.”
That’s not to say being a UFC celeb has taken his focus away from what really matters – training and then performing on fight night. On the contrary, Jardine knows better than most how fickle the fame game can be, so he takes it as a fringe benefit, not the main reason he gets up in the morning.
“The fight game keeps you really humble and I try not to get caught up in all that stuff too much,” he said, and that humble attitude and dedication to his craft may just be the true appeal of ‘The Dean of Mean.’ That and the fact that when the bell rings, he’s not looking to engage in a three round sporting event; he’s trying to win a fight.
“I work real hard in the ring and I’ll never back down from adversity,” he said. “I will always step forward. You see people out there just to win the sport of fighting. I don’t think of it as a sport; I think of it as an actual fight, and I think that’s the difference you get with me.”
And the difference he hopes to introduce Ryan Bader to this weekend.
