MMA Coverage

The “Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine held session Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., with a shocking upset of former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell.

Jardine chopped away at the “Iceman’s” legs for the duration of the bout, and floored the ex-champion with a right hand in the second frame before taking a split decision. “Kicking is my thing,” declared Jardine, who upped his record to 13-3-1. The loss for Liddell marked the first time in his career that he has dropped consecutive contests. Judges Cecil Peoples and Richard Bertrand saw the contest 29-28 for Jardine, while Marcos Rosales gave two rounds to Liddell. On the undercard, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was supposed to be the PRIDE import that would tear through the UFC. Somebody forgot to tell Forrest Griffin.Griffin, the light heavyweight winner of the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” dominated the Chute Boxe star for 14 minutes before putting him away with a rear-naked choke with 15 seconds remaining in the final period.

Tags: Chuck Liddell, Keith Jardine, UFC 76 by MMACoverage
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Keith Jardine hadn’t heard of Houston Alexander. So when Alexander, who was making his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut, pummeled “The Dean of Mean” in UFC 71, Jardine thought he may have landed himself on the next undercard.

Instead, Jardine will go from losing a lower-tier bout to the chance to redeem himself against the biggest name in mixed martial arts — Chuck Liddell– in tonight’s featured fight at UFC 76 in Anaheim, Calif.

After that loss, “I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Jardine said. “And honestly, when I got the call I thought, ‘Oh, I am being joked with.’ I thought it was a joke and I didn’t believe it right away.”

Tags: Chuck Liddell, Keith Jardine by MMACoverage
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UFC president Dana White reckons Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell fell victim to a “rock-star lifestyle” when he lost his light-heavyweight title to Quinton (Rampage) Jackson in May at UFC 71.For his part, Liddell feels he just paid for a sloppy punch – a lazy left to the body that exposed his chin to a right cross. Jackson threw it and connected, nailing the champion.

On Saturday night, Liddell gets a chance to show he has put such bad habits behind him as he takes on Keith (The Dean of Mean) Jardine at UFC 76 at the Honda Center. It’s not as sexy a fight as Liddell versus Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva, but that mixed martial arts matchup awaits Liddell providing he wins Saturday.

Tags: Chuck Liddell, Keith Jardine by MMACoverage
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‘The Iceman’ last entered the ring in August when he lost the light-heavyweight title to Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson at UFC 71.

He will be looking to get back to winning ways and reclaim his place among the title contenders.

But ‘Dean of Mean’ Jardine has a point to prove after his last Octagon appearance saw him lose in just 48 seconds to Houston Alexander.

Jardine said: “It will be a real honour to fight Chuck, he’s the greatest light-heavyweight champion ever and I’m excited to fight him at UFC 76.

Tags: Chuck Liddell, Keith Jardine, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, UFC 76 by MMACoverage
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For years Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell were MMA’s two brightest light heavyweight stars, but they existed in alternate universes.

Liddell became the dominant star in the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Silva, a Brazilian, became an even bigger star in Japan, home of the Pride Fighting Championships. UFC president Dana White spent years trying to make the fight — UFC champion vs. Pride champion. On Sept. 8 in London, he’s done both — sort of.The first battle of UFC vs. Pride champions (which airs on Spike TV) wound up being not exactly what White had in mind when he started negotiations last year to buy the failing Pride company. On Feb. 24 in Las Vegas, Dan Henderson knocked out Silva in the third round of a thrilling match to win the Pride title, thus becoming the first man in the history of the major leagues of MMA to hold titles in two weight classes at the same time.

Tags: Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson, Keith Jardine, Matt Lindland, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, UFC, Wanderlei Silva by MMACoverage
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The light heavyweight bout between Chuck Liddell versus Keith Jardine isn’t the only thing to watch out for at UFC 76: Knockout as the upcoming event also marks the return of Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez.

On Saturday, September 22, Sanchez will step up on the Octagon and come to blows with fellow welterweight contender Jon Fitch at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Sanchez, the 25-year-old winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 1, ended his undefeated run in a fight with Josh Koscheck at UFC 69.  Several weeks after his fight, UFC president Dana White announced that Sanchez was sick on the eve of the bout and almost had to retire with the detection of Hepatitis C.  Eventually, doctors concluded that the initial findings were incorrect and officially diagnosed him with a staph infection.

Tags: Chuck Liddell, Dana White, Diego Sanchez, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Keith Jardine, The Ultimate Fighter, UFC, UFC 69, UFC 76 by MMACoverage
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