The Tragedy Of Keith Jardine
March 22, 2009
The tragedy of life is not that man loses ….. but that he almost wins. – Heywood Broun
In any conventional sense the career of Keith Jardine is far from a tragedy. No one was killed, crippled, or done irreparable harm. At the end of the day he has just won or lost some MMA fights. But within the context of the quote above and the sport itself, it would seem to be an apt description. The Broun quote above speaks of the tragedy of what might have been, and that is something that Jardine will face when looking back at his career.
He seems to hold that belief to some degree already. Fighters Only has a great piece up that details Jardine’s speaking with UFC.com about his loss to Quinton Rampage Jackson:
“Everybody knows I’ve had some bad losses, but this is the toughest one to take and I’m trying to put it out of mind. Knowing that I lost the fight in the last five seconds is really hard to take and it’s been killing me,” he told UFC.com
“It makes it easier knowing that I’m not taking a step back in my career and knowing that I’m still going to get good fights and the opportunities, and without the fans you’re not gonna get the fights, so that’s really huge.
“But I can’t wait to put everything together and get to a fight where I finally show everything I’m capable of, and hopefully that’s my next fight.”
Jardine’s career has been a mix of bad timing, bad decision’s, and a bad chin on his part that has left him just short of the promised land of UFC gold or MMA immortality. Bad timing was vexing in both his wins and his losses. Jardine took Rampage to the brink, with one judge telling Jardine that the fight was lost for him in the last ten seconds of the fight with a Rampage knockdown. That was one case of timing, the other being when he fought guys. He has wins over two guys that have held light heavyweight gold in Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell, and his skill-set is such that he could have done the same when those guys also held the gold. Liddell is a legend of the sport and his losses to this point have been to the elite of the sport, so Jardine’s win is a feather in his cap.
In his other losses in the UFC, Jardine has been undone by either bad judging or a fatal flaw in being a bit chinny. His loss to Stephan Bonnar is disputed by many, and held up as a weakness in the judging criteria used in MMA. Jardine suffered a loss to what would seem to be a lesser fighter in Houston Alexander. His loss to Wanderlei Silva is nothing to be ashamed of, Wanderlei will be a Hall of Famer, but with Silva being on slide coming into the fight and with Jardine’s prior big wins, it wasn’t a fight that wasn’t within his reach to win. Both fights turned on Jardine’s at times questioned chin, but he was able to refute these thoughts with his ability to with stand multiple big shots in his fight with Rampage.
For the boxing fans who read the site, Jardine in my book is the equivalent of Ken Norton. Norton had big wins as well as big losses, but was in the mix with the best and brightest of his division for the better part of his career. Norton’s win over Ali and horrific KO to Gerry Cooney would be analogous to Jardine’s win over Liddell and horrific KO to Silva. Recognition as a legitimate champion eluded Norton, but he is looked back on now with respect. When his career is over, Jardine will look back over a career that may call to mind what might have been but his is a fight card that will be one to look at with pride. His dance card at 205 has been replete with the best and the brightest in the weight class, and he has availed himself well in his fights.
Jardine will continue on, and I’m sure he will claim a few more big wins along the way, as well losses. At the end of his career, a belt or riches may elude him but he will have knowledge that he challenged himself against the best the sport to had to offer and he made his mark in MMA. Having that peace of mind may give lie to the Broun quote in the beginning of this piece, making his a triumph rather than a tragedy.
