Jardine: ‘I’m Fighting Myself, Not Hamill’

With three consecutive losses in the UFC, Keith Jardine knows how fortunate he is to still be considered headlining material.

Jardine meets Matt Hamill in the main event of “The Ultimate Fighter 11” Finale on June 19 in Las Vegas. It’s a matchup of TUF alumni, as Jardine competed on Season 2 of the show while Hamill was on Season 3.

“The main thing with this fight is, I don’t care who they set me up against, I feel like I’m lucky to be on the main card, let alone the co-main event,” said Jardine, who trains at Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts in Albuquerque, N.M. “They could have put anybody out there. I never say no. I’m real excited to fight another wrestler, Matt Hamill.”

It wasn’t that long ago that the “Dean of Mean” seemed on the verge of light heavyweight title contention. A win over Brandon Vera –- where Jardine says he was the closest to reaching his full potential as a fighter -- at UFC 89 led to a main event bout against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 96. In the last 10 seconds of the third round of that fight, Jackson knocked Jardine down and ultimately swayed the judges’ scorecards in his favor.

The two losses that followed were much more decisive: Jardine suffered a first-round TKO at the hands of Thiago Silva at UFC 102 and a third-round knockout to Ryan Bader at UFC 110 in February.

The losing streak hasn’t sapped any of Jardine’s passion for the sport.

“I’ve been in a bit of a slump, but the one thing consistent is I’ve been back to work. I’ve been training hard nonstop,” he said. “I’ve been in shape for a fight it seems like for the last year. I’m hungrier than ever. I’m having more fun fighting than ever.”

Hamill is on a three-fight winning streak, but his most recent victory was a controversial disqualification win over Jon Jones at “The Ultimate Fighter 10” Finale in December. Jones, a teammate of Jardine’s in Albuquerque, N.M., was dominating the fight, but earned a DQ for illegal downward elbows.

Jardine has had the opportunity to pick Jones’ brain for tips, but he doesn’t expect to imitate Jones’ performance against Hamill in the Octagon.

“Jon’s told me a couple things, but it’s really hard because Jon’s such a unique style and such an athlete. There’s no way I’m gonna go mimic what Jon did,” Jardine said.

The Montana native expects to stay true to his unorthodox fighting style that was so successful for him early in his career during signature wins over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. Prior to the Silva fight, he worked with standup coach Mike Winkeljohn to clean up his striking. While that time was a valuable learning experience, Jardine plans on sticking with what makes him feel comfortable this time.

“I don’t want to get too philosophical, but I went through a phase of really trying to polish up my boxing -- keep my hands up all the time. Just being a real polished boxer, that’s not me,” he said. “But it’s good, I learned a lot of stuff. Now it’s about trying to bring that together with my own style… and just have fun and loosen up and relax a little bit.

“I’ve been definitely fighting too tight. Now I’m just relaxed and ready to try to take this thing to the next level.”

To get to that next level, Jardine will be back where it all began. Fighting on an Ultimate Fighter card has special meaning for him.

“For me this is like the re-start of my career… What’s cool about being in the TUF finale is that’s when I made it to the UFC by beating Kerry Schall,” he said.

While Jardine is excited about getting a chance to put an end to his losing streak, the opponent in front of him isn’t all that important. It’s how he performs that truly matters.

“I’m not even fighting him, I’m fighting myself. I don’t think I’ve ever got up to 80 percent of my potential in the ring yet. That’s all I’m concentrated on right now.”