Strikeforce Rockhold vs. Jardine Recap: Luke Rockhold dominates on way to TKO victory
Posted on January 8, 2012, 01:27 AM by Trent ReinsmithHeading into Saturday night most fans and pundits had Luke Rockhold as the favorite over Keith Jardine in Rockhold’s first defense of his Strikeforce Middleweight title. With that being said, it’s doubtful that many had Rockhold breezing through the fight as easily as he did.
It seemed as if whenever Rockhold threw a strike it landed and the post-fight numbers reflected that as Rockhold connected on 75 percent of his strikes, especially those that ended the fight at the 4:26 mark of Round One.
Questions after seeing Rockhold vs. Jardine:
-What’s next for Luke Rockhold? After his fight he, respectfully asked the UFC to bring some contenders over to Strikeforce to challenge him for his Middleweight crown. It seems as if Rockhold was overlooking the fighter that we was originally set to face in his first defense, Tim Kennedy. That call out may be taken as an insult by Mr. Kennedy and that could make for a rather interesting fight, if that is the next fight for Rockhold.
-What’s next for Keith Jardine? Well, his career has not gone so well as of late. Physically he looked good in his drop to middleweight, but he just couldn’t handle Rockhold. In his last nine bouts his only two wins have been against Aron Lofton and Francisco France. At 36 it may be time for ‘The Dean of Mean” to hang up the gloves.
Notes and more questions following Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine:
-Following the fight card Clinch Gear delivered the following tweet, “Just found out @tarecfighter fought last two rounds with broken arm. Stinson broke his arm in first and Tarec kept going. Wow!” If that tweet is accurate it makes Saffiedine’s victory all that much more impressive.
-Is Saffiedine versus Tyron Woodley the right fight to make for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight title? Woodley is a winner, there’s no doubt about that as his 10-0 record shows, but his win tonight may not have helped his cause. The fight was not the most exciting fight of the night, as Woodley used his wrestling to control Jordan Mein. He never really went for the finish and as anyone who is aware of Jon Fitch knows, that type of fighting does not get you a title shot.
-Jordan Mein learned an important lesson in his bout against Tyron Woodley and that lesson was, it’s time to work on his wrestling. Mein is still a very young fighter and he has a lot of time to develop as a well-rounded fighter. His next step should be to get a solid wrestling coach.
-Does Muhammed Lawal deserve a chance at the vacant Strikeforce Light Heavyweight crown? King Mo dominated Lorenz Larkin with his wrestling and ground and pound, handing the previously unbeaten Larkin his first loss in dominating fashion. If Lawal doesn’t deserve a shot at the title, I don’t know who else would.
-What was up going on with the referees and the judges? Following his win over Larkin, Lawal told referee Kim Winslow, “You let him take too many punches,” a statement that was hard to disagree with. You would also be hard pressed to not say the same thing to Herb Dean after the seemingly late stoppage in the Rockhold versus Jardine fight. As far as the judges, well, some of those split decisions should not have been split decisions, we’ll leave it at that.
LowKick.com Strikeforce Rockhold vs. Jardine main card awards:
Fight of the night: Muhammed Lawal vs. Lorenz Larkin. Lawal was impressive in victory, taking the fight to the ground and firing away with power strikes on the ground. Lawal was two for two on his takedowns and landed an impressive 32 power strikes on his way to finishing Lorenz Larkin.
Performance of the Night: Tarec Saffiedine. Knowing that Saffiedine won the fight after suffering a broken arm in the first round, well, he gets the nod in this category.
Finish of the night: Luke Rockhold. Once Rockhold had Jardine hurt he swarmed him and gave him no chance to recover as an added bonus he did all of this without messing up his hair, impressive.
Further Reading: Strikeforce Results: Luke Rockhold TKO's Keith Jardine
Photo: Tracy Lee for YahooSports
Comments
King mo is no joke..should be in the ufc right now. But being in strike force will give him time to work on his hands until he goes to the ufc
im not really Impressed with rockhold, he's jus a average middle weight fighter i think a lot of guys in the UFC would prove to him that in the UFCs MW division he would take on more of gatekeeper role. i can't picture rock hold beating fighters like sonnen, munoz, belfort, or even brian stann.
People always forget Palhares. I think Palhares is a scary dude and he is a top contender. I think Nate was Lucky and even though Palhares is an a*s he is scary and most don't like fighting him. Everyone ends up injured.
King Mo looked great. I truly think this guy is ready for the UFC. Even though he's no match for Bones at the moment. He could probably beat a few top 5 guys in the LHW division though.
Keith Jardine has a fine reputation of getting knocked out... He should just retire already, unless he wants to entertain the fans by getting knocked out.
Honestly, it always strikes me as stupid to change weight divisions and immediately jump into a title fight, given that you don't know how the change will affect your performance yet.
Really impressed with Rockhold, kicks looked awesome and showed he's got power in his hands. If he wants ufc contenders to come over and challenge like he said post fight, I'd like to see someone like Okami or Palhares come over and test him in other areas before he transitions to the ufc. On an another note, Jardine took way more punishment than he needed too, I rate Herb Dean the best ref in mma but he let that fight go on way to long in my opinion. Either way, great performance from Rockhold!
Rockhold...Another one of my least favorite fighters gets another huge win over a seasoned vet in Jardine. He looked to be at the top of his game and took everything that the Dean of Mean had to offer; and got that nasty TKO!
Congrats on a solid win Mr. Rockhold.
Let's finish that business with Tim Kennedy before we start importing UFC fighters to face you for that SF belt.
Jardine always looks good getting knocked out! He's still got a few good fights left in him. Just not another title shot. Put him in there against Lawler. That would be another good highlight for Robbie's reel.
King Mo looked mean with that vicious finish in his fight. When are we gonna see these vacant titles get filled, and who is going to fight for them? Mo is a definatly a canidate at LH with his victory last night; maybe facing Gregard for that vacant belt.
Woodly and Tarec seems like the obvious choice for WW.
There are still some great fights in SF:
Tate vs Rousey
Thomson vs Noons
Fodor vs Masvidal
Saffiedine vs Daley
Rockhold vs Kennedy
Lawler vs Woodley (at WW)
Mousasi vs Lawal
Feijao vs Kyle
Roger Gracie vs OSP
Cormier vs Barnett
All Main Card caliber fights
Rockhold and Tim Kennedy could do some damage in the UFC MW division . Rockhold has a nice style of fighting and he is very talented
that TKO win was impressive over the bigger veteran Keith Jardine
But he impress me when he beat Jacare Souza , Souza is a solid Top 10 fighter with nasty ground game so good he own Andy Silva in the gym on the ground. while Rock hold may not beat Belfort, Sonnen or Silva he has a legit chance of beating guys like Munoz , Okami , Stann
and would bury Bisping in the first round.
Yeah because Bisping is known for getting destroyed in a single round? lol
Keith Jardine looks REALLLY awkward in that pic.
well he is getting knocked out, lol what do you expect? Him to be taking glamour shots for the camera??
Jardine looked as impressive as ever....
why does jardine keep doing this to him self? when ever he steps in the ring i feel nervouse for him because i know hes gettting KO'd. when he started getting rocked by luke, i was like "here we go again".