Gegard Mousasi to fight Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine

PanARMENIAN.Net - Strikeforce light-heavyweight Gegard Mousasi will fight Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine next week instead of Mike Kyle.

Kyle suffered a hand injury earlier this week in training for Mousasi, whom he was scheduled to face on April 9 in San Diego. Strikeforce quickly turned to Jardine as a replacement. Showtime broke the news during Friday's Strikeforce Challengers broadcast.

Jardine, a veteran of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, also confirmed it on his website: "On thur night Strikforce called my manager about me filling in to fight Mousasi. I've always had trouble turning down a fight. So it looks like I'll be on Showtime next week. I'm excited to be back with Zuffa!"

At the height of his UFC career, Jardine was a consensus top-10 light heavyweight because of wins over Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Brandon "The Truth" Vera and Mike Whitehead. But he lost five consecutive bouts, with the fourth resulting in his release from UFC.

He won his last two outings, both on smaller shows.

But a disciplined striker such as Mousasi might be able to take advantage of Jardine's occasional habit of dropping his hands, making him vulnerable to counters. Wanderlei Silva and Thiago Silva knocked out Jardine with counterpunches, USA Today reports.