UFC 102 Preview: Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva

Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine (14-5-1, 6-4 UFC) vs. Thiago Silva (13-1, 4-1 UFC)

The Story So Far

The UFC 102 co-main event features two fighters who are coming off of disappointing losses in their last outing.

Keith Jardine returns to the Octagon after dropping a tough unanimous decision to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 96.  After an impressive run in his first four UFC bouts - marred only by a questionable decision loss to Stephan Bonnar at The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale - "The Dean of Mean" has been the very definition of inconsistent, alternating wins-and-losses in his last six bouts, with two of those three defeats coming via brutal first-round knockout. 

Thiago Silva, who trains with the highly respected American Top Team, is looking to rebound after being handed the first loss of his career by current 205-pound kingpin, Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida back at UFC 94.  That bout ended with him staring up at the arena lights after his aggressive style back-fired and he was starched by a devastating punch right at the end of the first round.

Both men desperately need a win in order to stay relevant in the stacked Light-Heavyweight division.  Two losses in a row could mean being relegated to permanent gate-keeper status.

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Conventional Wisdom

The general consensus surrounding this match-up is that for Jardine to win he needs to create space and chop away at Thiago with the leg kicks that he has previously employed to great effect.  See: Liddell, Chuck.

In order for Thiago to emerge victorious, he needs to follow the aggressive examples that Houston Alexander and Wanderlei Silva have already set.  Wanderlei's UFC 84 playbook would seem the best one to copy:  Wait for Jardine to throw a kick and then rush in and overwhelm him with strikes.

The biggest question mark is whether Thiago's last bout has left him a bit gun-shy.  

WKR Analysis

WKR feels that Thiago Silva employs the perfect style of fighting to defeat Keith Jardine.  Thiago likes to press the action and throw bombs.  Jardine's chin contains more glass than a hall of mirrors.  Despite the fact that Jardine survived to see a judge's decision against Rampage, I don't think anyone has forgotten that he was dropped a couple of times during the course of that fight.

Some have attributed Jardine's win against Brandon Vera at UFC 89 to "The Truth's" tentativeness and while Jardine did look decent against Rampage, there are those who feel that Rampage simply didn't perform up to his capabilities.

Thiago on the other hand has looked like a wrecking machine throughout much of his career.  He has shown a true killer instinct, finishing 12 of his 13 opponents.  He has shown the ability to bounce back from adversity, coming back to stop Antonio Mendes after getting knocked down early and surviving an early onslaught from Houston Alexander.  Of course, Thiago and Jardine also have a common opponent in "The Assassin" and we all know how those fights went.     

Jardine trains with a fantastic camp and will have the brilliant Greg Jackson in his corner, but all the game-planning in the world can't temper the glass in his chin.  If Jardine takes a couple of hard shots he's going down for the count; although if he can frustrate Thiago and goad him into fighting his style of fight then all bets are off.

Fun Fact

Keith Jardine was a professional boxer and had a 3-0-1. Jardine is sometimes mistaken for the Techno Viking.  Full video of said Viking here.  Seriously, dude looks like Jardine on a mixture of HGH and crystal meth.

UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira coverage