Sherdog’s Top 10: Hollywood Crossovers
No. 9
Keith Jardine has kept himself busy outside the cage. | Photo:
Stephen Albanese/Sherdog.com
9. Keith Jardine
Jardine made a name for himself in mixed martial arts on the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” alongside Jackson-Wink MMA teammate Rashad Evans, and built a surprisingly productive career for himself as a top fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and later in Strikeforce. His unorthodox striking style helped him notch wins over two different UFC light heavyweight champions in Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. When he walked away from the sport in 2012, Jardine could look back on a solid run as a fighter that exceeded all expectations.
While he was a fine mixed martial artist, Jardine was always a man of many parts. A former college football player, he also worked as a firefighter, personal trainer and most famously as a bounty hunter. He started working as an actor at the height of his MMA career and has built a nice sideline for himself in increasingly big roles. Jardine’s first breaks in the movie business came in 2009, when he appeared alongside Jason Statham in “Crank: High Voltage” and then the Gerard Butler vehicle “Gamer.” He followed those films with several parts in small martial arts flicks and appeared in episodes of “Breaking Bad,” “Hawaii Five-0,” and “Longmire.” The Keanu Reeves action film “John Wick” also had a role for Jardine, and he will appear in the next installment of “The Maze Runner” series in 2015.
Life after fighting seems to be treating Jardine well, and between his coffee business -- Caveman Coffee -- and his career as an actor, we will be seeing more of “The Dean of Mean” in the future.
Number 8 » WCW’s demise drove him into yet another line of work. He debuted as a mixed martial artist and kickboxer in Japan in April and June 2002, respectively, and quickly made a name for himself as a hulking mass of power and muscle.
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