Luke Rockhold: Keith Jardine does not deserve a title shot
Posted on January 3, 2012, 11:17 PM by Trent ReinsmithOn September 10, Luke Rockhold had his hand raised in victory after a five round bout with Ronaldo Souza, advancing his record to 8-1 and more importantly capturing the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship.
On Saturday, Rockhold will defend his title for the first time, facing Keith Jardine, who will be making his Middleweight debut in the title bout. The two will headline a Strikeforce card from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV.
Jardine came to the fight after Rockhold’s originally schedule opponent, Tim Kennedy, was forced to withdraw from the fight due to an injury. An incredulous Rockhold had the following to say about the fact that he is facing Jardine in his first title defense, “No, I don’t think he deserves a title shot! It was a replacement fight on short notice, so it is what it is. I’m happy to face him and excited about the challenge! I was supposed to fight Tim Kennedy but he pulled out do to injury! He is the fight that makes sense and I want fights that make sense in the future!” – for more see MMASucka.com
Further Reading: Luke Rockhold is the New Strikeforce Middleweight Champion
Comments
Well most people thought Rockhold didnt deserve a title shot either but as for this fight I think Rockhold should win without too much trouble
Way too many exclamation marks! It's hard to take his comments seriously with all the exciting punctuation! My grandmother died!
neither did lesnar...but thats another story.
Put it that way neither did Couture or Bas Ruten or even Anderson Silva!
Im not a lesnar fan but reality is he was freaking huge when he came in there wasnt too many people to fight him anyway at the time plus he was a money making machine that the ufc needed!
What im saying is different times call for different actions.
If Jardine wins this fight doesnt he deserve to be the champion?
To be fair, Bas and Silva already had great accomplishments when they joined.
yes , true, i was going to say that. and some time served in MMA.
oh yes sorry i dont argue that but what im saying is that basicaly it doesnt matter weather someone deserves a shot or not and that the rankings are just there to give the turns, any trained fighter could beat the champ and of course the other way around.
So Jarding taking the risk of a short noticed fight against the champ then he deserves his shot in a way!
Sorry but im kind a busy when im on the pc and probably mixed up all the posts i was reading.
Im just tired of ppl bitching about Lesnar!
Dean of Mean, meet Dean of Dec. If your chin can last that long.
You do not deserve the belt...judges gave it to you as a present.
well I guess Jacare should of finished Rockhold then.
Unfortunately Jacare is as over hyped as Jason Miller
We dont see Miller wanting a Diaz fight now...he would get finished in 1-2 rounds by the Stockton Slap.
I fell the same way. Keiths getting the shot due to a shallow MW division in SF & then Keiths name is bigger than Luke.