Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine is prepared to face yet another difficult light heavyweight contender this Saturday night at UFC 102. He will be taking on the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert Thiago Silva as part of the co-main event. Jardine believes that he had “holes” in his game before this upcoming bout, but he now feels much prepared come August 29 at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon. “The Dean of Mean” is coming off a rather close decision loss to the former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, but is eager to bounce back with a victory over a top competitor like Silva. Jardine feels that it is now his time to shine in the 205-pound division…
From Keith Jardine himself:
“The winner’s still going to be top tier in the world and looking for a title fight, and fighting contenders, and the loser’s definitely going to drop off…. It’s just another fight, man. I’m fighting a really tough guy, a top-rated guy. I’m just in it for the fight, man. I don’t care about all that other stuff…. More than anything, not too many people have been fighting the quality of people that I’ve been fighting from fight to fight. And I have had a few holes in my game, and I feel like I’ve been improving. I think I’ve fixed a lot of those holes…. It’s a new and improved me, and it’s the start of a run for me to the top of the UFC. That’s the way I’m looking at it…. I’ve never been in a boring fight. It’s going to be another really exciting fight…fight of the Night-caliber fight.”
