We were looking forward to the Gegard Mousasi, Mike Kyle tilt at this Saturday’s Strikeforce, but when Kyle went down with an injury and Keith Jardine was named as the replacement, cheers abounded throughout the Fix office (ok, maybe not exactly). After all, despite Jardine’s struggles over the last couple of years, we are talking about a dude that took out Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell and Brandon Vera.
Now it wasn’t long ago that many people were calling Mousasi the next big thing, until he was tossed around by “King Mo” Lawal last April and lost his Strikeforce belt. Despite the fact it was his first defeat in 15 fights and that the 25 year-old has won two more times since then, it’s been kind of quiet on the “Gegard’s the man’ front. Of course, all is far from lost for Mousasi and he knows it. While speaking to MMA Weekly, Mousasi talked about getting a win over Jardine, getting back the Strikeforce belt, and then, just maybe, taking on a certain Jon “Bones” Jones.
“Right now Jon Jones is considered the best, and if I win my fights, maybe it could build up a good match against him,” stated Mousasi. “I think it would be such a great fight, so I would like to test myself against him….“I need to win my fights first in Strikeforce, and then there’s a possibility to fight in the UFC or have the Strikeforce champion versus the UFC champion. But I’ve got to win my fights before thinking about that possibility.”
Mousasi vs. Jones huh? We’d watch. To bet on Mousasi and Jardine, or any of the other bouts scheduled for Saturday, head here.