As the Welterweight Division Shifts into New Era Josh Koscheck Looks for a Second Chance

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It’s common knowledge to those of us who follow the sport that UFC matchmakers don’t like to repeat themselves if at all possible. It bores the average fan or so they tell us and I’m not even saying that I disagree with it as a general premise to follow. It only becomes a problem when somebody as dominant of Georges St-Pierre steps into the picture and effectively cleans out the division. But with him out of the picture for the next year or so and the UFC on the verge of crowning an interim champion those who have fallen to the pound for pound king may be ready for a shot at redemption. The first name that popped into my head was, of course, Jon Fitch. Here was a man who before his last fight had also more or less cleaned out the division with one major exception: the unanimous decision defeat at the hands of GSP. But then Johny Hendricks only took 12 seconds to smash those dreams thus forcing us to consider who else is primed for a comeback and the choice is rather clear, Josh Koscheck.

Koscheck, the ever self aware frat boy heel, has two GSP losses to his record and most recently in his December 2010 title fight we saw him do little else besides sustain an eye injury that kept him out for most of 2011. When he return however he massacred Matt Hughes and was set to take on Carlos Condit before he got plucked from that contest and placed in the main event. His record or the quality of his wins are not spectacular but his skills are undeniable as is his marketability. And thanks to the shuffling of the deck at this card he has been thrown something of a softball in Mike Pierce. Koscheck comes in as a -245 favorite and despite Pierce’s 13-4 record it is hard to envision any sort of scenario in which he is not able to secure a victory here.

Pierce meanwhile is no push over himself having won every fight in the Octagon thus far except for the times he had to battle Fitch and Hendricks. Both of those guys are wrestling based and like to play on the mat and while Koscheck also excels at that game he is better than either of them at striking. Pierce doesn’t get taken down easy though I still expect Koscheck to take one or two attempts to do so. If that doesn’t fly then he’ll be happy to stand and bang where he should find a lot more fortune. Pierce has never been finished so the real question will be whether or not he’ll keep that streak alive or if Koscheck will score another knockout of the night on him. Obviously if he were able to manhandle Pierce the same way he did Hughes then it would do wonders for his chances of returning to the top of the division. As mentioned earlier he has already been beaten soundly by GSP twice but since we don’t have a firm timetable on his return a win for him at UFC 143 could open the door for a matchup against the winner of the Condit/Diaz tilt.

Koscheck knows that at 34 the clock is kind of ticking on him and I expect that to play into his strategy. He needs a win and he needs it to be sexy so look for him to go full court press on Pierce. Pierce will probably be able to survive for a round simply by slowing the action and neutralizing his opponent but by the second round look for the always crafty Koscheck to figure out his line of defense and then bust right on through it.