Keith Jardine was a defensive line coach at tiny New Mexico Highlands University. And though he didn't exactly see it as a dead-end job, he felt a lot more connection with the players on the field than with the coaches.

He was an athlete and he still had a desire to compete. So when he got a chance to compete in mixed martial arts, he didn't hesitate.

"I've always seen myself as an athlete and I wasn't ready to give up on the chance of doing it," said Jardine, who meets Las Vegan Forrest Griffin tonight in a light heavyweight bout on the Ultimate Fighting Championship card at the MGM Grand Garden.

Jardine -- dubbed "The Dean of Mean" -- was a star on the second season of "The Ultimate Fighter," the UFC's reality series. Jardine says he's "three, four, five times better, at least" now than he was then but concedes he'll have his hands full with the hard-hitting Griffin.

But Jardine knows a win will put him near the top of the heap for a shot at the winner of tonight's main event between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, so he plans to put on a show.

"This is a perfect style fight for me, because I don't have to worry about a wrestler who's trying to take me down," Jardine said. "We're just going to get in there and bang heads for however long it lasts. It's going to be a shootout."

• BIG PAYDAYS -- Liddell is guaranteed $250,000 and Ortiz $200,000 for tonight's fight. With their pay-per-view cuts factored in, UFC president Dana White said both men "absolutely" will make in excess of $1 million.

• NO, CANADA -- White said a planned April 7 card in Montreal that was to have featured welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has been canceled.

"We're definitely going to go to Canada, but there are too many problems with that show," White said.

• RAMPAGE SET -- Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, who in 2003 was the last man to defeat Liddell, will make his UFC debut Feb. 3 when he takes on former UNLV running back Marvin Eastman.

Eastman scored a decision over Jackson in 2000.

Nobody was happier to hear that Jackson signed a two-fight deal with the UFC than Liddell, who would love to avenge that loss.

"Great news," Liddell said. "I wanted to celebrate. I was very happy to hear that."

• HERRING SIGNED -- The UFC has added another heavyweight to the mix, signing submission specialist Heath Herring, a Las Vegas resident, to a contract.

Herring is best known for a Dec. 31, 2005, incident on a K1 card in Tokyo with Yoshihiro Nakao.

As the fighters were receiving their instructions, Nakao leaned in and kissed Herring on the lips.

Herring responded by punching Nakao, knocking him out and forcing Nakao to be taken from the ring on a stretcher.