Know Your Fighter (And Shut Your Mouth): Jordan Mein

Welcome to the latest installment of "Know Your Fighter (And Shut Your Mouth)". I won't even pretend to be as capable of giving a comprehensive fighter analysis as well as our dear Mountaineers101, but here is my contribution, anyway.

You may not be very familiar with Strikeforce welterweight fighter Jordan Mein but if you watched his fight against Evangelista Santos at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov in September, you probably remember him. He put on a fantastic display of standing elbows that resulted in a third round TKO stoppage victory for Mein in his very first fight with Strikeforce. The elbows Mein used to finish that fight were crazy good, and he used his accurate punches and effective combinations to soften and wear down Cyborg throughout the entire fight until he was awarded the stoppage.

Mein is 22 years old and fights out of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. His MMA record is 23-7. Even at his relatively young age, he already has 30 MMA fights under his belt with his first coming against Rory MacDonald when he was just 16. Before coming to Strikeforce, he was on a great run that culminated in a big win for him against revered kickboxer Marius Zaromskis, where he won a standup battle by unanimous decision. Mein's last loss was in August 2010 against Jason High, but since that loss, he's put together a string of six straight wins. He trains under his father, Lee Mein, who is also an MMA fighter. Jordan is one half of a set of twin boys but his twin brother, Preston, passed away last June. Preston is still a major source of inspiration to Jordan, who says his brother's struggles with a form of cerebral palsy taught him to appreciate his own skills and abilities even more and to make the most of what he's been given.

On Saturday, Mein will face unbeaten Tyron Woodley, who is on a seven-fight win streak in his Strikeforce career. Mein will be up against Woodley's strong wrestling and control as he tries to implement his own game plan which would likely involve a lot of standup. Mein admits it's the biggest fight of his career but he thinks he can figure out how to win:

"He’s undefeated and he’s been a problem for everybody else, so I’m gonna try to figure that out and get the win and just take it as another fight."

For an excellent dissection of Mein's upcoming fight against Woodley, check out this story from Bloody Elbow. It also contains some fun and exciting gifs but, just in case you need a quick fix, I'll leave you with this one below, which is very delightful.

HT: Strikeforce, Sherdog, Bloody Elbow