UFC 110 Preview: Keith Jardine vs. Ryan Bader

"The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine (15-6-1, 6-5 UFC) vs. Ryan "Darth" Bader (10-0, 3-0 UFC)

The Story So Far

In one of UFC 110's featured attractions, veteran Keith Jardine faces off against up-and-comer and TUF season 8 winner, Ryan Bader.

A KO loss to Thiago Silva this past August handed Jardine the first consecutive loss of a fighting career that has spanned close to nine years. "The Dean of Mean" has gained a reputation for being consistently inconsistent as prior to the UFC 102 defeat, Jardine had spent the past three years alternating wins and losses on his record. This fight marks a bit of a departure for Jardine who had been featured in either the main event or co-main event in his last five fights dating back to UFC 76. Hard to believe it was less than two years ago that Jardine had the opportunity to defeat both Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva in back-to-back fights. One senses that this is a must-win fight for Jardine who faces the danger of perhaps being relegated to the ‘Spike prelim' portion of PPV broadcasts if he doesn't come away with the victory here. Not helping Jardine's cause is the fact that he hasn't won a clear-cut fight since UFC 66 when he TKO'd Forrest Griffin in the first round.

As the winner of one of the least watched TUF seasons in history, Ryan Bader doesn't necessarily have the full weight of the UFC-hype machine behind him despite his undefeated record. In just under three years of fighting as a professional, Bader has amassed an impressive 10-0 record, but he has yet to face off against a top-tier opponent. After easily dispatching Vinny Magalhaes to win the TUF 8 crown, it looked as if Bader's promising career might end before it ever really got started when he sustained a serious knee injury during his victory over Carmelo Marrero at UFN 18 in April, tearing both his MCL and PCL. Bader returned to action just seven months later as he dominated Eric Schaffer at UFC 104, cruising to a unanimous decision victory.      

Conventional Wisdom

There aren't many MMA fans outside of Keith Jardine's immediate family who would disagree that his chin is a major liability. While not known for possessing one-punch KO power, Ryan Bader certainly has heavy enough hands to put "The Dean of Mean" to sleep if he catches him on his comically over-sized button.

Most observers see this fight going one of two ways; either Jardine gets knocked out in the first round or he is able to employ a smart game plan of controlling the distance and kicking the crap out of Bader en route to grinding out a decision win.    

WKR Analysis

As is often the case, conventional wisdom seems to be right on the money for this fight. Knowing both of these guys' styles and the past history of both fighters, it's hard to argue that the end won't either come in the first round or by decision.    

I was highly impressed with Keith Jardine's performance against Rampage last year, but the fact remains that in this sport if you can't take a solid punch without getting KTFO, what future do you have? For Jardine to be successful in this bout he needs to utilize a strategy of circling away from the dynamite that Bader packs in his right hand while throwing those effective leg and body kicks which will wear down the conditioning and explosiveness of "Darth". Jardine will also want to use his trademark awkward movement and varied strikes to throw off the timing of his opponent and keep him guessing. 

There aren't a lot of fighters that Jardine has faced that possess Bader's level of explosive wrestling. Jardine has stated in recent interviews that despite Bader's wrestling acumen, he believes his opponent will want to stand and trade with him. I wouldn't put a lot of stock into that line of thinking as I believe that if Bader doesn't find immediate success on the feet, he won't hesitate to take this fight to the ground where he should have a clear-cut advantage. It's been awhile since we've seen Jardine fight off of his back for an extended amount of time so that aspect of the fight remains a big question mark.

"The Dean of Mean" has to be somewhat relieved he isn't facing off against yet another deadly striker, but several questions remain as Jardine hopes to avoid his fourth loss in his last five fights. Will Jardine be able to effectively impose his will and wear down Bader like he did against Chuck Liddell? Where will the majority of this fight take place? Will Jardine's chin once again be his undoing? We'll find out the answers soon enough.

Fun Fact*

The Daily Telegraph recently conducted an interview with Keith Jardine where he talks about several of the jobs he has held in the past. Some of those positions include: Personal trainer, firefighter, football coach, miner, and bounty hunter. 

Any of those sure beats being a nurse, don't they?

*Thanks to Zak for the assist.