Filed under: UFC
With wins over Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell and Brandon Vera on his resume, one would think Keith Jardine was past the “coming into his own” stage of his career.
With three straight losses – and four in his last five – heading into his Saturday fight against Matt Hamill on “The Ultimate Fighter” live season finale in Las Vegas, it would be natural to think the UFC light heavyweight was frustrated or even concerned about his future. But Jardine chalks the losses up to a simple slump.
“I’ve been going through some growing pains and I’ve been in a little bit of a funk,” Jardine said Wednesday on a media call for Saturday’s fight. “And I needed to go through those pains to get to here. I’ve showed glimpses of greatness. I knew two years ago, I beat Forrest, I beat Liddell, I beat those guys. But I knew I wasn’t the fighter I wanted to be. I knew I wasn’t ready to carry the UFC torch yet.”