Looks like surging welterweight contender Demian Maia’s path to UFC gold will have to go through former title challenger Josh Koscheck.
Brazilian media outlet NewsMMA broke the story, with LowKick.com being the first media outlet to provide an English translation.
The report states that the bout will take place at UFC 163 on August 3, which is yet to have a location determined.
The pay-per-view event will be headlined by a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and former WEC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis (via USA Today).
Maia, a former middleweight title challenger, has taken the 170-pound division by storm since July of last year, winning three straight over Dong Hyun Kim, Rick Story and Jon Fitch.
In Koscheck, a friend and former teammate of Fitch, he faces another decorated wrestler who challenged welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre for UFC gold a few years ago. However, Koscheck has fallen on hard times recently, going just 2-3 in his past five fights and has recently dropped two straight bouts to Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler, respectively.
Maia, a decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, means the road isn’t getting any easier for the former four-time All-American collegiate wrestler.
The Brazilian has submitted accomplished wrestlers before in Story and Chael Sonnen, though he has shown he can be controlled on the mat to an extent in his fights with Chris Weidman and Mark Munoz.
Of course, both Weidman and Munoz are much bigger fighters than Koscheck.
Will the crafty guard and submissions savvy of Demian Maia be enough to make Koscheck tap, or will the American’s takedowns, top control and ground-and-pound be overwhelming in this pivotal welterweight matchup?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com and contributes MMA videos to The Young Turks Sports Show.
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