Jardine Talks Mousasi, Move to 185

Gegard: Worried About Slipping

Gegard Mousasi does not want to lose his first bout in front of the UFC. The initial buyout of Strikeforce has raised several main issues and concerns, one of which being, how disposable is the Strikeforce roster?

Several strong showings by the Armenian has brought him loyal fans and plenty of publicity and hype, but his loss recently to 'King Mo' was anything but an impressive performance. Mousasi had this to say coming into his first fight under the Zuffa family:

"If I win this, I get a title shot in Strikeforce hopefully. It all depends of course on how I perform, but I just need to win every fight and I think it will be OK. This fight is important. I think this one is a deal breaker or maker. I need to win this one. If I win the light heavyweight belt, then there’s more meaning for me to go to the UFC. Because then champion versus champion can be done. There’s a little bit more pressure now because there’s no competition. If you screw up, you’re screwed yourself. There’s more pressure, but other than that, I can just fight the best that I can. I hope they like my style."

Mousasi fights former UFC great, Keith Jardine this Saturday in San Diego on the main card of the Strikeforce: Diaz Daley bout. Jardine is coming off two straight wins over Aron Lofton and Francisco France bouncing back from his five fight losing streak where he saw the axe from the UFC in September of 2010.

A loss for Mousasi would be a major setback for the rising star and with a loss to 'King Mo' and then finally an aging and glass-chinned Keith Jardine would cement his plateau in the mixed martial arts world. A win on the other hand would not be beneficial to his stature because Jardine is being passed over as being 'over the hill' and headed into retirement. Mousasi just needs to make sure he wins, and does it with an exclamation point to keep his status high heading into his next bout.

Full Article: MMA Mania

Jardine to Replace Injured Kyle

Keith Jardine is set to replace the injured Mike Kyle. The original bout was slated to be held April 9th in San Diego under Strikeforce's Diaz V Daley card. Unfortunately Mike Kyle suffered a broken right hand this past week in training.

It was uncertain as to whether a replacement would be found on such short notice. There were also speculations that Zuffa would replace Kyle with someone from the UFC roster.

All myths were dispelled yesterday when it was announced that Keith Jardine will be taking the shot against the quickly rising light heavyweight.

"The Dean of Mean" will get another shot at the big show.

Strikeforce officials today announced Keith Jardine (17-9-1 MMA, 0-0 SF), a 13-time UFC veteran, has agreed to step in one just one-week's notice to face Gegard Mousasi (30-3-1 MMA, 2-1 SF) at "Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley."

The slot became available when Mike Kyle broke his right hand in training and was forced to withdraw from the contest.

Source & Article: MMA Junkie 

Paul Daley Signs on Dotted Line

Since the recent acquisition of Strikeforce underneath the Zuffa banner, the Nick Diaz, Paul Daley fight got interesting. Paul Dley was released by the UFC back in 2010 following his post-fight punch directed towards Josh Koscheck. Dana White went on record stating that Paul Daley would never fight in the UFC again. Well, much like Rashad this last weekend in the cage with Jones, "Well, I guess you should never say never."

Paul Daley since hearing of the purchase began to run his mouth on the blogs and internet saying he would back out of the April 9th fight for the Strikeforce Welterweight title because he refused to 'fight for' Dana White and 'make himand Zuffa money'. Rumors began swirling around the underground about who would replace Daley on a few weeks notice. The threat left some wondering if the UFC might put one of their own fighters into the Strikeforce bout if need be.

All was silenced yesterday afternoon when Nick Diaz's trainer and manager, Cesar Gracie confirmed that on Tuesday afternoon, Paul Daley signed the contract to fight. The two will be headlining a stacked card that is still yet to be completed, although four total fights have been signed. The co-main event sees Gilbert Melendez defending his lightweight title against Tatsuya Kawajiri, Gegard Mousasi takes on quickly rising Mike Pyle, and in a battle of the 'fancy pants fighters', Shinya Aoki battle Lyle Beerbohm.