Josh Koscheck’s future as a welterweight looked bleak after his second defeat at the hands of champion Georges St-Pierre. Another shot at the welterweight crown was an impossibility as long as GSP ruled the division and Kos had all but packed his bags for the middleweight division.
But with a fight against rising star Johny Hendricks to look forward to, the fighter has renewed optimism in the division.
“Right now, there’s a lot of good young fighters in the welterweight division that definitely intrigue me,” Koscheck said in an interview with MMA Junkie. “And obviously, there’s two champions at this division.”
One of the champions he’s talking about is Carlos Condit. His victory over Nick Diaz, which won him the interim welterweight title, has added a new complexion to the division. With GSP still nursing a career-threatening injury, there’s every chance that Kos could get a shot at the championship once more.
But certain stars will have to align in the right way for that to happen. First, Kos has to beat Hendricks, whom he’ll face on May 5 at UFC on FOX 3. Hendricks is coming off a knockout win against perennial number two contender Jon Fitch, a victory which catapulted him from an average welterweight to a serious title challenger.
It also put Fitch out of a title chase, himself a long-time friend and training partner of Koscheck. Fitch’s loss means that should Kos defeat Hendricks, he could reasonably claim to be the number two challenger to Condit’s crown.
But then for Kos to have a shot at Condit, Condit will have to defeat GSP in their long-awaited matchup expected later in the year.
And that means Kos will be playing a waiting game, hoping things out of his control will work in his favour, giving him a chance at cementing his legacy in the welterweight division.
Surely that would serve him better than attempting to move up a division at this stage in his career. At 35, it is hard to see him prevailing against fighters such as Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Mark Munoz, Brian Stann and Anderson Silva.
No, Koscheck is best served in staying at welterweight, and with talents such as a Nick Diaz (currently suspended) and Rory MacDonald shaking up the division, there are still big paydays left as he sees out his last few years in MMA. The launch pad for that would be a victory against Hendricks in New Jersey.
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