Retirement can take a backseat for now.The UFC is targeting a matchup between former welterweight and lightweight champion B.J. Penn and longtime veteran Josh Koscheck, according to a tweet by Koscheck on Wednesday night.”UFC just offered me to fight B…
Retirement can take a backseat for now.
The UFC is targeting a matchup between former welterweight and lightweight champion B.J. Penn and longtime veteran Josh Koscheck, according to a tweet by Koscheck on Wednesday night.
Penn said after his last fight that it was likely the last time he would be seen in the UFC’s Octagon, explaining that he couldn’t perform at the top level of competition anymore. A matchup with Koscheck will put a stop to any retirement plans. All that awaits is a response from the former two-division champion.
“Just waiting on him!” Koscheck tweeted. “Let’s scrap, bra?”
Penn’s last performance saw him losing a decision to Nick Diaz at UFC 137 in October of last year. The loss was the third in the his last five fights, and he hasn’t seen two wins in a row since 2009.
Koscheck was last seen dropping a split decision to Johny Hendricks at UFC on FOX: Diaz vs. Miller earlier this month. The loss was his first since losing his second bid for the welterweight title against Georges St-Pierre in 2010.
A date and venue are yet to be announced for the Penn-Koscheck matchup.
Erik Fontanez is a freelance journalist, specializing in MMA. Follow Erik on Twitter at @Erik_Fontanez
(Val Kilmer isn’t the most experienced strength-and-conditioning coach that BJ’s trained with, but he works cheap, and he’s available pretty much all the time.)
#UFC just offered me to fight BJ Penn…I said YES!!!!! Just waiting on him!!!!!! Let’s scrap bra?
UFC president Dana White revealed earlier this month that Penn turned down a fight against Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez. A return fight against Koscheck — who’s coming off a split-decision loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC on FOX 3 — might be more attractive to Penn, in that it wouldn’t require the Prodigy to cut to 155 or make a “downgrading” appearance in Strikeforce.
(Val Kilmer isn’t the most experienced strength-and-conditioning coach that BJ’s trained with, but he works cheap, and he’s available pretty much all the time.)
Penn has yet to make a public a statement about the bout-offer; we’ll update you when we know more. In the meantime — are you psyched about the possibility of Kos vs. Penn? And how do you see the fight playing out?
@joshkoscheck I know it costs a lot of money to live that lavish lifestyle, big house, fast cars & you need big fights but sorry I’m not coming back anytime soon!
I watched UFC on FOX 3 last Saturday in a bar. More specifically, I watched the card in the bar at Buffalo Wild Wings. This is not an uncommon practice. Back when I lived in Vegas, John Morgan from MMAjunkie.com and I would spend hours at the loca…
I watched UFC on FOX 3 last Saturday in a bar. More specifically, I watched the card in the bar at Buffalo Wild Wings.
This is not an uncommon practice. Back when I lived in Vegas, John Morgan from MMAjunkie.com and I would spend hours at the local Buffalo Wild Wings. You know the show Cheers? BW3 was our Cheers. I’m not kidding—not even a little bit—when I tell you that we spent a good portion of last Christmas at Buffalo Wild Wings.
I’ve gotten pretty good at watching fights at BW3, even when they refuse to turn the sound on. Or when the bartenders don’t even know there is a UFC show scheduled that night, much less a UFC show on free television. That’s what happened this time around, but we finally got the television tuned to FOX just in time to see the ref call for Lavar Johnson and Pat Barry to trade heavy, leathery fists.
I say all of this, I guess, to say this: I didn’t watch the Josh Koscheck vs. Johny Hendricks fight as closely as I usually do. It just wasn’t possible. I didn’t see every single solitary second of the fight, and I didn’t have my trusty pen and paper to take minute-by-minute notes.
But after watching the conclusion of the third round, I was certain Koscheck had won a close 29-28 decision, mostly because that’s how I scored the fight. I thought Josh might even get a 30-27 score here or there, if there were any judges sitting cageside that didn’t know what they were watching.
So you can imagine my bewilderment when Hendricks was awarded the win.
Now, I’ve gone back and watched the fight since Saturday night’s wing-and-beer festival ended. And I still find myself coming to the same conclusion: Koscheck won the first and third rounds with more effective striking, and the official numbers from FightMetric—the official supplier of statistics for the UFC—back me up.
In the first round, Hendricks landed 18 significant strikes out of 25 overall landed strikes. Koscheck landed 14 overall strikes, but all were significant. And 16 of Hendricks’ strikes were leg kicks, while 11 of Koscheck’s strikes were to the head.
Now, I’m not a guy who says leg kicks aren’t worth anything. They obviously are. But it was also obvious that Koscheck landed the more valuable strikes in the first round, and judge Ricardo Almeida—the only former professional fighter on the panel—agreed with me.
Hendricks dominated the second round. There’s no question about that one. And the third round was close enough that it could’ve gone either way. I’m not here to say this was a blowout by Koscheck, but I do believe he did enough with his strikes to the body and his clinch work in the third round to earn the decision.
This was an interesting fight. With Carlos Condit on the sidelines, waiting for Georges St-Pierre to return in November, Hendricks will have a long time to sit and wait for his promised title shot. Why would Hendricks sit for what will likely be a year or more in the prime of his career? That doesn’t make sense.
I’ll let Koscheck propose a different idea:
Just watched the fight again.1&3rd round where mine. Maybe a rematch 5 round fight this time? What U say Hindricks?
See previous Articles MMA Betting Strategies I and II for reference……. After 1 night of posted picks here on MMA Fix, the Crisper wound up 2-1, with wins on Nate Diaz (+175 when locked in,.
See previous Articles MMA Betting Strategies I and II for reference…….
After 1 night of posted picks here on MMA Fix, the Crisper wound up 2-1, with wins on Nate Diaz (+175 when locked in, closed at +155) and Alan Belcher (+220 when locked in, closed at +160). My posted loser was Josh Koschek (-125 when locked in, closed at +140, thought we might get a split decision on this closely contested battle). Because money management has taught me over the years to play “to win 1 unit” on favorites and “to risk ½ unit” on dogs, I wound up + .725 units, for another night of profits!!
The Crisper was a little nervous to post both of his favorite picks, as he didn’t want to have a losing night for all MMA Fixers out there on the first night of posted picks (especially since Dodson was -500). From now on all FAVORITE FAVORITES and at least 1 Dog will be posted each night of fights….all for FREE of course!
Getting back to the action on Saturday, impressive performances were turned in by 3 fighters in particular.
Alan Belcher – how did he keep slipping out of all those leg locks??? Seriously it must be scary when a little Tasmanian Devil lookin’ Jiu Jitsu black belt grabs your foot, then turns on it so you can’t see what’s going on under there….eeesh! Belcher is for real…wondering who he will be paired up with next?
Lavar “Big” Johnson – This is one “Big”, Bad Dude. I counted 38 full out roundhouses to the head of Pat Barry before he finally fell…not bad for a “Big” man. His conditioning is excellent for a heavyweight…and he is definitely “BIG”. One has to wonder if his nickname has any dual meaning?
Nate Diaz – pure domination of a very good opponent. Used his reach and began taunting Miller before literally picking him apart with precision striking. Title fight here he comes.
Closing Note – For all of us MMA junkies out there, how great was it to not have to cough up $60 bucks for this great night of action? By the way, why do they even offer the non-HD version of these fights for $49.95? I mean seriously…NON-HD? What’s the point?
Check back this weekend for the Crisper’s picks for Tuesday’s UFC on Fuel card.
(Upkick me once, shame on you. Upkick me twice, shame on me. Upkick me six times…seriously, bro?)
From Nate Diaz‘s hilarious taunts to Lavar Johnson‘s brutalization of Pat Barry, here are the best moments from Saturday night’s UFC card in animated GIF form. Props to IronForgesIron, the UG, and TheBigLead. More good stuff after the jump.
(Pablo Garza vs. Dennis Bermudez: Upkick me once, shame on you. Upkick me twice, shame on me. Upkick me six times…seriously, bro?)
From Nate Diaz‘s hilarious taunts to Lavar Johnson‘s brutalization of Pat Barry, here are the best moments from Saturday night’s UFC card in animated GIF form. Props to IronForgesIron, the UG, and TheBigLead. More good stuff after the jump.
After UFC 145, most of the fans of the sport are familiar with the hot-button topic that is the catalyst for what is sure to be more bad-blood drama in the future: teammate vs. teammate. It’s nothing new, to be sure. After Tito Ortiz held the UFC…
After UFC 145, most of the fans of the sport are familiar with the hot-button topic that is the catalyst for what is sure to be more bad-blood drama in the future: teammate vs. teammate.
It’s nothing new, to be sure.
After Tito Ortiz held the UFC light heavyweight belt hostage after defeating Ken Shamrock at UFC 40, Dana White and Zuffa have been working hard to make sure fighters know and accept the fact that business comes before pleasure or friendship.
During the very first season of The Ultimate Fighter, teammate was forced to fight teammate, all to illustrate what is a hard truth in the fight game: competition comes first and all else can be reassembled once the dust settles.
But no matter what White tries to do, he is still forced to listen to fighters who say they’d never fight this teammate or that teammate, and that is not good news.
In a world where one fight team can assemble so much talent, often is the time when top contenders in the same weight class train side-by-side, and inevitably, friendships are made as they make each other better fighters.
Take for instance the case of Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch. Both are good friends who spent many years training together and have often said they would never fight each other.
Now, as both men reel from recent losses, they are basically at the same level; skirting the outer limits of the top five or seven in their weight class. Should they both work their way up the ladder, they could once again be near the very top of the division with a title bout within their grasp.
Normally, two contenders in a situation like this would fight in order to decide who gets the title shot. But according to both Koscheck and Fitch, they wouldn’t fight. One would bow out and let the other proceed.
It’s a heart warming, noble and loyal thing to do.
It also doesn’t serve the best interests of the sport in any way, shape or form.
It’s a hard line to draw, but the truth is, it has to be drawn. And it needs to be drawn in bad blood if necessary.
Many fans who are outraged over the topic think the fighters should be allowed to choose if they fight a teammate or not, mainly based on the belief that there are plenty of other fighters and weight classes out there.
The truth is anything but.
The teammate vs. teammate situation usually comes up when fighters keep winning and rising toward what should be their ultimate goal: a championship.
When you consider what the title stands for, it becomes clear: the man who holds the belt is the best that division has to offer.
What the title doesn’t stand for is the notion that the man who holds it is the best in the division—except for his friend who didn’t want to fight him so he moved either up or down a weight class.
If that happens, then the belt for that division is rendered hollow, and when that situation happens, the belt is looked at with as much question as the man who holds it, because everyone is wondering if his bosom buddy is really better.
And if there is one thing that must never be questioned, it is the validity of the title.
Everyone who gets into the sport of MMA should honestly know, by now, that if they are as good as they dream, there may very well come a day when they have to fight a training partner and teammate. This isn’t some secret in the fine print of their contracts that sends Dana White into a storm of hand-rubbing glee because he gets to spring it on them.
In fact, about the only time when training partners shouldn’t ever be asked to fight is when they are actually family members, like the Diaz brothers and the Millers.
Titles need to be worn by the best in the division, and if the two best fighters in the division are from the same camp, then they must fight.
But to make it clear, the UFC should put it into their contracts, large and unavoidable. It needs to be more than just a stipulation; it needs to be a code.
The fight game is all about conflict. This is not a Jane Austen garden party, it’s a fight sport. The men and women who freely enter into this as their chosen profession are supposedly doing so because they love it more than anything else.
No one is holding a gun to their head, making them choose the sport. There are much easier ways to earn a living, after all, then getting your clock cleaned in front of millions.
But like any other job, there are unpleasant obligations that come along with it. Keeping the title on a pedestal is one of those obligations, because it is ultimately what is best for the sport.
And if you are a fighter, your sole ambition should be to win that belt. If you win that belt, you should defend its interests jealously, because that is in the best traditions and interests of that position as the best in the division.
If the friendships formed during training cause you to doubt if you would fight your friend, then you shouldn’t be fighting any more.
Of course, one needn’t look very far to see just how rocky a road it would be if fighters got to pick and choose who they did and did not fight. Boxing is rife with examples of this, and from that came a slew of fabricated title belts from this alphabet organization.
In fact, there are so many belts in boxing that they are essentially equal in their worthlessness. Tomorrow may see a boxer with a record of 17 wins and 14 losses crowned the new Heavyweight Champion of the World by the World Gardening Commission.
Thankfully, the sport of MMA doesn’t have that problem. There are title belts for different organizations, but UFC gold is the only real gold.
That could change, however, if fighters from the UFC begin defecting to lesser organizations in order to avoid fighting their friends; should the better fighter leave, then the problems start.
Being a champion isn’t a privilege, it’s a responsibility. If you are true to it, defending it against all comers will be very difficult, to be sure, but it should also be a labor of love.
And when you finally acknowledge that simple fact, then a code of competition is the most honest admission of the true responsibility of being a fighter and a champion.
Such a Code, fully read and signed and witnessed (by the coach ideally) along with the main contract would also help to ease the tension in the camps when and if those situations arise. They can all blame it on “Uncle Dana” and then go about their business, even if it is temporarily unpleasant.
When you look at the fight game, it is about many wonderful things (including friendships), but above all else, it’s about the fight.
Retirement can take a backseat for now.
