Former UFC light heavyweight contender Keith Jardine reached the apex of his career in 2007 after a win against former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell. The highly regarded up-and-comer was 14-3-1, heading into a huge fight against Wanderlei Silva and ever-so-close to his goal of fighting for the UFC light heavyweight title. 

Jardine lost the fight however, and went on to lose four of his next five, including four in a row, to find himself dropped from the UFC altogether. That Jardine was even permitted to lose three in a row and continue with the organization is a testament to his exciting style - two of the losses were in "Fight of the Night" efforts - but eventually the organization was forced to release the New Mexico native with the understanding that he could be brought back if he could put together a winning streak outside of the organization.

With that in mind, Jardine agreed to square off against highly regarded South African Trevor Prangly, in his first fight outside of the UFC in five years, but he came up short after dropping a razor thin split-decision. 

The loss pushed his losing streak to five straight and left him desperate for a win, which picked up in his next outing against Francisco France in a fight held in the Dominican Republic. 

The win was huge for Jardine, but also bittersweet as no one that fought on the card was paid. Still, the ever-optimistic Jardine was able to see the roses through the thorns.

"It was plenty gratifying believe me," Jardine said. "If I had to choose between a bunch of cash or winning the fight, I'll choose winning the fight every time. I feel bad about all the guys that lost their fights and didn't get paid. That's gotta be the worst feeling in the world."

In response, Jardine has set up a fund called "Pay the Fighters," where he sells autographed shirts and other paraphernalia in order to generate money to help pay the fighters who were stiffed. 

"A lot of people have approached me to learn about how they can contribute to the fighters so I put up a little website called PayTheFighters.com, where I can sell autographed T-shirts and stuff like that," Jardine explained. "Since my fight came up so fast, I haven't had the chance to really push it and get behind it, I haven't sold too many things, but I was hoping to be able to pay some of the fighters. Those middle of the road fighters are guys that just turned pro, and barely have a day job, just scraping by and their fighting every couple months. They need that paycheck and it really hurt those guys."

When he's not looking out for fellow fighters, Jardine is busy preparing for his upcoming fight against Aron Lofton. It will be the Albuquerque native's first fight at home since 2004.  

"I'm coming back to Albuquerque and I felt like I had the opportunity to fight and home so I felt like I better snatch it up and fight in front of all the people that couldn't watch me fight before," Jardine said. "So I'm fighting here at this casino in Albuquerque and I'm real excited about it." 

Jardine is also excited about the opportunity to put together his first winning streak since 2006. 

"I'm looking to put together a little streak right now and get my second win in a row and get back into the UFC," Jardine said. "That's my number one goal right now. I'm just worried about continuing my path again to...