Jackson Decisions Jardine

By Eric Thomas: In UFC 96 tonight, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson defeated Keith Jardine by a three round decision. The final scores were 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27. Jackson knocked Jardine down with right hands in both the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Jackson also scored takedowns in the 2nd and 3rd, but was unable to keep the stronger Jardine down either time. Though Jackson was the better puncher of the two, Jardine was far stronger and was able to easily get up when knocked down or taken to the mat by Jackson.

With Jackson on his back, Jardine was able to get up while carrying Jackson as if he were lifting a much smaller fighter. In all three rounds, Jardine landed the much better kicks to the legs. Jackson didn’t do much kicking and instead was looking for a knockout blow through much of the fight. Most of the time, Jackson missed wildly with his punches when attempting to score.

In the 2nd round, Jackson finally succeeded in dropping Jardine with a left-right combination. Jackson then attempted to keep him down by jumping on Jardine’s back while landing a short flurry of shots. However, Jardine, using his superior upper body strength, easily got up off the mat, peeling Jackson off. There was a small red mouse under Jardine’s eye after he got up.

Shortly after that, Jardine landed a left groin kick that caused the referee to stop the action to see if Jackson was okay. After the fight resumed, Jardine went after a still hurt Jackson and stunned him with some right hands to the head. As the round ended, Jackson didn’t look good. In the 3rd round, Jardine controlled the action during the first minute using right leg kicks.

However, Jackson once again dove in and took him to the mat with a perfect takedown. Like before, Jardine easily got up with Jackson on his back and resumed fighting. Jardine then controlled the next minute using leg kicks and an occasional left hand to the head.

Jardine drove Jackson to the cage in a failed attempt at a takedown. When the two were separated, Jackson let loose with a flurry of punches and slightly hurt Jardine with a right hand to the head. He then dropped Jardine with a left to the head with seconds to go. Jardine quickly got to his feet as the fight ended.

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