Strikeforce Rockhold vs. Jardine Recap: Luke Rockhold dominates on way to TKO victory

Heading into Saturday night most fans and pundits had Luke Rockhold as the favorite over Keith Jardine in Rockhold’s first defense of his Strikeforce Middleweight title.  With that being said, it’s doubtful that many had Rockhold breezing through the fight as easily as he did.

It seemed as if whenever Rockhold threw a strike it landed and the post-fight numbers reflected that as Rockhold connected on 75 percent of his strikes, especially those that ended the fight at the 4:26 mark of Round One.

Questions after seeing Rockhold vs. Jardine:

-What’s next for Luke Rockhold?  After his fight he, respectfully asked the UFC to bring some contenders over to Strikeforce to challenge him for his Middleweight crown.  It seems as if Rockhold was overlooking the fighter that we was originally set to face in his first defense, Tim Kennedy.  That call out may be taken as an insult by Mr. Kennedy and that could make for a rather interesting fight, if that is the next fight for Rockhold.

-What’s next for Keith Jardine? Well, his career has not gone so well as of late. Physically he looked good in his drop to middleweight, but he just couldn’t handle Rockhold. In his last nine bouts his only two wins have been against Aron Lofton and Francisco France.  At 36 it may be time for ‘The Dean of Mean” to hang up the gloves.

Notes and more questions following Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine:

-Following the fight card Clinch Gear delivered the following tweet, “Just found out @tarecfighter fought last two rounds with broken arm. Stinson broke his arm in first and Tarec kept going. Wow!”  If that tweet is accurate it makes Saffiedine’s victory all that much more impressive.

-Is Saffiedine versus Tyron Woodley the right fight to make for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight title? Woodley is a winner, there’s no doubt about that as his 10-0 record shows, but his win tonight may not have helped his cause. The fight was not the most exciting fight of the night, as Woodley used his wrestling to control Jordan Mein. He never really went for the finish and as anyone who is aware of Jon Fitch knows, that type of fighting does not get you a title shot. 

-Jordan Mein learned an important lesson in his bout against Tyron Woodley and that lesson was, it’s time to work on his wrestling. Mein is still a very young fighter and he has a lot of time to develop as a well-rounded fighter. His next step should be to get a solid wrestling coach.

-Does Muhammed Lawal deserve a chance at the vacant Strikeforce Light Heavyweight crown? King Mo dominated Lorenz Larkin with his wrestling and ground and pound, handing the previously unbeaten Larkin his first loss in dominating fashion.  If Lawal doesn’t deserve a shot at the title, I don’t know who else would.

-What was up going on with the referees and the judges? Following his win over Larkin, Lawal told referee Kim Winslow, “You let him take too many punches,” a statement that was hard to disagree with.  You would also be hard pressed to not say the same thing to Herb Dean after the seemingly late stoppage in the Rockhold versus Jardine fight.  As far as the judges, well, some of those split decisions should not have been split decisions, we’ll leave it at that.

LowKick.com Strikeforce Rockhold vs. Jardine main card awards:

Fight of the night: Muhammed Lawal vs. Lorenz Larkin.  Lawal was impressive in victory, taking the fight to the ground and firing away with power strikes on the ground.  Lawal was two for two on his takedowns and landed an impressive 32 power strikes on his way to finishing Lorenz Larkin.

Performance of the Night: Tarec Saffiedine. Knowing that Saffiedine won the fight after suffering a broken arm in the first round, well, he gets the nod in this category.

Finish of the night: Luke Rockhold. Once Rockhold had Jardine hurt he swarmed him and gave him no chance to recover as an added bonus he did all of this without messing up his hair, impressive.

Further Reading: Strikeforce Results: Luke Rockhold TKO’s Keith Jardine

Photo: Tracy Lee for YahooSports