After a fantastic fight, Gegard Mousasi and Keith Jardine fought to a majority draw, 29-27, 28-28, 28-28 at Strikeforce on Saturday night.
Mousasi had better striking than Jardine, but still couldn't keep Jardine from taking him down. While on the ground, Mousasi threw an illegal upkick, and was deducted a point. Jardine was given time to recover, and when the fight restarted, Mousasi still had the edge in striking.
In the second round, cuts on Jardine's face opened up as Mousasi employed a strategy of excellent counterpunching. Jardine was still able to take Mousasi down, but could not keep him there. Jardine also had trouble landing strikes after the takedown.
Jardine stuck with the takedown strategy early, but couldn't get the fresher Mousasi down. Mousasi flipped the script and took Jardine down and sunk in a deep guillotine. But the blood that was pouring out of Jardine's face helped him, as he was slippery enough to pull out from a guillotine that should have been able to finish him.
Mousasi stayed strong through the rest of the round, despite Jardine's ability to hang on and withstand punishment. Mousasi landed strikes and knees, but Jardine stuck around and even tried for an armbar in the final second of the fight.
The third round was stopped twice, once for an inadvertent groin strike and again because Mousasi's mouth piece fell out.
Jardine and Mousasi were both disappointed after the fight, comparing the draw to "kissing your sister." Jardine, a former UFC fighter who took the�match on short notice and showed toughness throughout, clearly was outstruck by Mousasi. If it weren't for that point deducted for the upkick, Mousasi would have walked out a winner.
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