Saturday night’s welterweight fight between Johny Hendricks and Josh Koscheck was about as close as they come in the UFC, perhaps just as close as where Hendricks currently finds himself in relation to Georges St-Pierre and a shot at the title.
Bigg Rigg edged Kos by split decision at UFC on Fox 3 at the IZOD Center in New Jersey to extend his record as a mixed-martial artist to 13-1 and position himself well within striking distance of those (i.e. Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz, Jake Ellenberger and Jake Shields) who would seek to unseat GSP.
Koscheck grabbed an early edge after the first round with a surprisingly effective bit of stand-up fighting, even though it was Hendricks who came in as the guy with the more furious fists.
Hendricks turned those particular tables back in his favor in the second, using an intermittent spray of uppercuts and jabs to climb back into the mix on the judges’ scorecards.
The split came in the third and final round.
Hendricks clocked Koscheck pretty handily over the first half before Kos took control on the mat over the final two minutes, giving the judges something to think about after the final bell.
Truth be told, the result could’ve gone either way without too much of a protest from either party, though Hendricks’ effort was certainly worthy of the win.
Now comes the hard part for Bigg Rigg: waiting—and hoping that he doesn’t drop down the pecking order of the welterweight division before a shot at the title presents itself.
St-Pierre has been plagued by injury for some time now and isn’t likely to return to the Octagon until November, against Carlos Condit.
Shields and Diaz will have to get back in line after losing to GSP and The Natural Born Killer, respectively.
That probably puts Hendricks in position to take on the winner of next month’s fight between Jake Ellenberger and Martin Kampmann, before he can truly lay any sort of claim to being the top contender.
With that said, Hendricks showed plenty in his victory over Koscheck—in terms of skill and competitive desire alike—to prove that he’s a rising force not only in the Welterweight division, but also in the UFC as a whole.
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