With the injury to UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre and the reshuffling of the UFC 143 card, Josh Koscheck was left without an opponent as Carlos Condit had stepped up to meet Nick Diaz for an interim title.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship promotion announced an opponent for Koscheck late Thursday night, naming Mike Pierce (13-4) as Condit’s replacement.
The two will meet at UFC 143 on February 4th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Pierce confirmed the matchup on Twitter last night (@MikePierce170)
– It’s on! KOS tried wiggling outta this one too, but Feb 4th he’s mine. #ufc #ufc143
Pierce is 4-1 in his last five matches, rebounding from a loss to Johny Hendricks last summer by earning a split decision over Paul Bradley on Nov. 12 at UFC on FOX 1. Overall in the Octagon, Pierce is 5-2 with three decision wins, one submission and one TKO victory.
Both Pierce and Koscheck have wrestling backgrounds with NCAA Division I Wrestling experience. Saying that, I would expect this to go three rounds of a grinding battle between the two.