This matchup shouldn't even be an option at this point. Chuck (big star or not) is in the position he's in because he lost 2 of his last 3 fights. No way in hell that Jardine should have to pay for being successful in a matchup he that was believed to have no chance in.
Looking at the rankings (on MMA Weekly at least) Rua is the only fighter above Jardine and unspoken for in upcoming events, that makes any sense at all. Machida is spoken for. Hendo is going down to 185 (for now at least). Jackson is spoken for with the TUF commitment....Jardine just beat Liddell a few months back, WTF should he have to face him again right away? That's a pointless fight at this particular juncture. If Jardine wins...what? He's two up on Chuck...so F'n what? If Chuck wins he & Jardine are sitting 1ea....So what? Are we then forced to go for the best of 3....like the wonderful Arlovski/Sylvia trilogy that screwed sh*t up so bad in the HW division?
I'm guessing that with his ranking and recent run (Alexander not with standing), Jardine SHOULD be in the title picture for the forseeable future...what the hell happens if Chuck does lose to him again? That should virtually eliminate almost any chance of Chuck getting anywhere near a title shot again...with 2 losses to Rampage & 2 losses to Jardine, his only prayer at a title bid would be if Griffin somehow won...or if Wandy somehow leapfrogs him (despite losing his last 3 fights) and takes the title from the winner of Rampage/Forrest.
Jardine vs Rua (to me) is the only logical step right now. If Jardine beats Rua, it proves he's a legit contender and he should be immediately taking on the winner of Jackson/Griffin. If Rua can beat Jardine, it'll show he's back on track and given his overall ranking/status/past history with both Rampage and Griffin, could be in line for a title shot. PLUS, now you've at least got some interesting MMA Mathmatics kicking in too, with the Jardin over Griffin/Griffin over Rua/Rua over Jardine triangle happening.
If the UFC wants even semi-knowledgable fans to take it's rankings/top contender status at all seriously...they need to start making matches that make sense given the fighters current trends. Stop shelving fighters on win streaks, stop bogging down title matches with this stupid TUF sh*t and stop following up bigtime wins with non-sense rematches or "Who-the-F***-is-this-guy" matchups (like in John Fitch's case).
THe UFC match makers need to not play favorites and Chucky needs to swallow a bit of pride and works his way back into the picture like lesser names would. I would much rather see Liddell vs. Sokoudjou or Thiago Silva or even a Bonnar, Gouveia or Sakara before having Jardine have to prove the first matchup wasn't a fluke at this point. Why coddle big names who fall off and penalize up and comers for succeeding. It's BS, IMO.
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