THE CANADIAN PRESS
LAS VEGAS — Being mean is a way of life for Keith (The Dean of Mean) Jardine. But not the way you think.
The UFC light-heavyweight is looking to spread the word with Mean Style, his new clothing line (www.meanstyle.com).
“No goblins, no skulls, no guns, nothing like that,” Jardine explained on the eve of his mixed martial arts showdown with Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva at UFC 84 on Saturday night. “Just real simple and kind of retro-looking and stuff that I’d like to wear.”
One signature T-shirt features the word Mean over a big numeral one. Mean one. Trainer Greg Jackson compares them to vintage college football gear.
“They’re real simple, they kind of speak for themselves,” Jardine said. “I’m mean, being mean is mean. I don’t need to tell everybody how bad I am, I don’t need to prove that every day by making an ass of myself. It’s just being humble and never backing down from challenges and facing obstacles head on. That’s what the Mean Style is all about.”
Unlike some fighters, Jardine is not covered in ink. But at 6-2 with a shaved head and long goatee, he still turns heads where he enters a room.
But away from the cage, he savours the quiet life in Albuquerque, N.M.
“I do simple things to entertain myself. I’m a big movie buff, I like to read books, go to coffee shops, that kind of thing,” he said.
Born in Montana, Jardine grew up in Oregon, attending high school and junior college in Los Angeles before moving to New Mexico. His resume includes stint as a personal trainer, wildland firefighter, football coach, miner and bounty hunter.
His father and grandfather were miners so he helped them out during college. As for the bounty hunter gig, he did it to help a friend but quit after a couple of months because it didn’t mesh with his fight training.
Now he is a key man in the camp of respected trainer Jackson, who guides the likes of Canadian Georges St. Pierre, Rashad Evans and Nate Marquardt.
“He’s one of those guys that’s there for everybody. . . . He’s just a workhorse,” Jackson said. “He’s always in the Dojo. He’s always letting me know who could possibly be upset, he’s the team captain. He is kind of my counterpart on the team, he helps out with so much stuff. That makes him phenomenally easy to coach.”
Jardine, 32, is coming off an upset win over former light-heavyweight champion Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell at UFC 76 in September. He also holds a victory over Forrest Griffin, who is fighting Quinton (Rampage) Jackson for the title in July.
He hopes back-to-back wins over Liddell and Silva will force the UFC’s hand into giving him a crack at the championship belt. But neither he nor Jackson are complaining.
“We’ll see what happens,” Jardine said. “I don’t have a lot of marketing behind me, I’m just kind of the blue-collar guy. I’ve worked my own way up. They keep throwing me fights because I’m an entertaining fighter but they never expect me to win these fights so I’m just the expendable guy that’s pulled a few wins off.”
Jackson says those in the know appreciate Jardine’s skills.
“I think he gets the respect as a fighter from the people who know fighting. He has a lot of fans,” Jackson said. “But I think he’s just taking a harder road than some fighters have taken. And that’s a good thing, because at the end of the day he’s going to have fought all the hard guys coming up. The fans are going to respect him more.
“We take anything that looks negative and turns it into a positive.”
Jardine (13-4-1) is 5-2 in the UFC with the lone losses to Stephan Bonnar and Houston (The Assassin) Alexander. Many thought he won the Bonnar fight but there were no excuses against the heavy-handed Alexander at UFC 71. Jardine was caught early and admits he doesn’t remember much about the fight, all 48 seconds of it.
Jardine bounced back by winning a split decision over Liddell at UFC 76.
The UFC took its time finding Jardine an opponent after that win. Jardine says he has been training for a fight since January.
A lot of possible opponents “and nothing ever came through.”
“I don’t know if I was anything to do with it but I asked (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva Well why not Wanderlei?’ Because what better opponent could I ask for than Wanderlei Silva?”
Jardine has amused himself with some film work since his last fight. He worked on “Crank 2,” “The Game” with Gerard Butler and “Beer for My Horses.”
“I love it. They’re real small roles so it doesn’t take from my training at all. You just spend a day doing some filming, actually shooting guns and being a tough guy and having fun and then go back to work, so it works great with my schedule.”
His attention is now focused on Silva (31-8-1), one of the hardest men in the sport. The Brazilian is coming off a loss to Liddell in a slugfest at UFC 79 in December.
“He’s similar to me, like the Terminator, takes a licking, keeps on ticking, keep going forward. He’s that guy, he’s never once quit in a fight, he’s been down in a fight many times like I have and come back,” Jardine said. “He’s mentally one of the toughest fighters I’ve ever fought. Just because the way we match up, I expect even more of a battle, an even tougher fight that my last fight.”
The bookies favour Silva, but St. Pierre likes his training partner.
“I think he’s going to win and he’s going to shock a lot of people,” said the UFC welterweight champion.
Jardine, who turned down lucrative offers to wear other people’s clothing, will walk to the cage in his own clothing line.
“I love it,” Jackson says of Mean Style. “I hope it catches on and everyone wants to be a mean one.”
