Although the main event of UFC #71 seems to be in the forefront of everyone’s mind, there were some other spectacular fights that night and another equally impressive knockout in the light-heavyweight division. I’m talking about the match-up between Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine vs. Houston “The Assassin” Alexander.
Most, if not all, fans of MMA know of or have at least heard of Keith Jardine. Alexander on the other hand, seems to be virtually unheard of too all except the extreme hardcore MMA fans. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I sat down to watch this match since I had never seen Alexander fight before. Forty-eight seconds later, everyone knew who Alexander was, a definite threat to everyone in the light-heavyweight division.
What will follow is a detailed professional analysis of the fight from start to finish, concluding with some final thoughts concerning both fighters. Please keep in mind that these are my views from my own perspective of the events that transpired. They are by no means intended to shed any kind of negative or disparaging thoughts, words, etc. on either one of the fighters involved. I have a great deal of respect for anyone, and I do mean anyone, who steps onto the mat. So, with further ado let’s get started.
THE FIGHT:
Jardine came out to open the round with his hands up, but wide open similar to the Thai style of boxing. He proceeded to throw a left jab followed by a right hook that landed, and a left hook that missed.
Alexander threw a right leg roundhouse to the outside of Jardine’s left thigh that was for all intents and purposes ineffective.
Jardine comes back with a left jab, then a right hand to the body which connects and a left hook which hits Alexander flush on the jaw and drops him to the ground in a flash knockdown. Jardine charges in and attempts to land several punches, while Alexander regains his feet and blocks most if not all of the punches from landing with any kind of authority.
Jardine then grabs Alexander in a Thai style clinch around his neck by pressing his forearms into the sides of his neck while grasping both hands together behind the head. Very similar to what happened to Rich Franklin in his last title defense. Jardine tried to bully Alexander around the ring, but wound up on the short end of the bullying stick.
Alexander pushed Jardine up against the cage where he delivered a right knee to the body followed by a powerful right hook punch to the head that buckled Jardine’s knees. Jardine gets back up but is still holding onto Alexander with the Thai clinch and gets nailed with 5 more vicious right hooks to the head followed by a devastating right uppercut that almost seemed to lift Jardine up off his feet. Jardine goes down a second time, but gets up all the while Alexander is landing several more right hooks to the head.
Alexander throws a right knee to the body followed by 3 more vicious right hooks to the head and another right uppercut that sends Jardine down again for the third time of the night. Alexander hits Jardine with a left knee to the head followed by one more right uppercut that literally knocked Jardine out and the mouthpiece out of his mouth before crumpling face first into the canvas. Alexander landed one more glancing blow to the head of the downed Jardine before the referee was able to intercede and stop the match.
Here is the interview with Alexander video for you to look at before you read the deal below:
THE KNOCKOUT:
Now there were two primary contributing factors that were directly responsible for the effectiveness of Alexander’s hook punch and uppercut, one of which was Alexander’s devastating punching power, while the other contributing factor was provided by none other than Jardine himself. I have broken these two factors down by fighter and they are as follows:
Jardine:
If you watched the devastating punches of Alexander closely, and boy I did numerous times with my Tivo, you can clearly see that Jardine had left himself wide open to attack since both of his arms were tied up around Alexander’s neck in the Thai clinch. This resulted in leaving both sides of his head completely open and vulnerable to attack, as well as, his midsection. As you can clearly see when Alexander delivers the two hard right knees to the body. If you are going to use the Thai clinch, it is best used when you are on the offensive delivering knees to your opponent’s body and letting go with one arm or the other from time-to-time in order to deliver elbows and punches of your own.
As you can see from this fight, it is very detrimental to use when you are just hanging onto your opponent as he punches your head in. Although I am almost positive that the Thai clinch was the only thing keeping Jardine from hitting the canvas the first three times.
Alexander:
He obviously took Jardine by surprise when he threw that first beautiful right handed hook punch to the head. I am really hard pressed to see much wrong or that can really be worked on as far as his performance in this particular fight. I would say that I think he would have had an even faster knockout had he thrown a series of right uppercuts one right after the other, instead of just the one at a time that he did throw. Although I must admit that they were set-up spectacularly by those devastating right hooks.
MY RECOMMENDATIONS:
Here are my thoughts on how each fighter could improve upon their respective abilities concerning this particular fight.
Jardine:
1. Learn to use the Thai clinch effectively for offense by throwing knees to the body and elbows to the head. Do not use it for defense.
2. Learn to assess a situation, just because a man goes down from one of your punches doesn’t mean you have to charge right in. Although sometimes that is exactly what you want to do.
3. If you find yourself in trouble on your feet, if it is to your benefit, take your opponent to the ground and give yourself the opportunity to refocus.
4. Don’t allow your opponent the opportunity to dictate the pace of the fight.
5. Learn and Practice how to avoid getting hit while fighting in close proximity to your opponent, and when unable to avoid the punches, how to minimize their effect by taking them on the arms and rolling with the force of the punches.
Alexander:
I really am hard pressed to find any real flaws in Alexander’s performance. So having said that, the only thing I can really recommend at this time is to keep training hard and don’t let this win go to your head. Three or four more fights and you should be ready for a title shot.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Jardine should not take this loss to heart as I think he overlooked Alexander and therefore, has himself to blame for being overconfident and taking Alexander too lightly. Obviously a mistake that you now recognize and hopefully won’t make again. You actually had Alexander hurt for a moment but failed to intelligently capitalize upon it. Just imagine if you hadn’t been so anxious to jump on him and he had the opportunity to get back up. I think this fight may have gone in an entirely different direction.
Alexander shouldn’t be too anxious to jump right into a title shot. He should have 3 or 4 more fights first and then gauge how well he is doing, and if he is ready to step-up to the upper echelon of fighters in the light-heavyweight division. Take your time and do it right and you definitely could be a contender for the championship.
Shawn Kovacich has been practicing the martial arts for over 25 years and currently holds the rank of 4th degree (Yodan) black belt in both Karate and Tae Kwon Do. Shawn has also competed in such prestigious full-contact bare knuckle karate competitions as the Shidokan Open and the Sabaki Challenge, among others. In addition to his many accomplishments, Shawn is also a two time world record holder for endurance high kicking as certified by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Shawn is the author of Axe Kick the third volume in the highly acclaimed Achieving Kicking Excellence™ series. of martial arts books, and is currently working on several additional marital arts and self-defense books. Which are due to be released in late 2007 or early 2008.
[tags]Alexander, Jardine, UFC 71, MMA, Fight[/tags]
