The Co Main event features Josh Koscheck vs Johny Hendricks. Koscheck is at the stage of his career where he is near the bottom of the todom poll when it comes to title shots after.
The Co Main event features Josh Koscheck vs Johny Hendricks. Koscheck is at the stage of his career where he is near the bottom of the todom poll when it comes to title shots after having been outclassed by the current champion GSP twice. He is coming off rather unimpressive wins over Matt Hughes and Mike Pierce and seems to be only fighting for a paycheck. Jonny Hendricks is coming of a huge first round knock out win over former number 2 ranked welter weight fighter Jon Fitch. Despite being a major underdog Hendricks was able to pull off a 12 second KO and launch himself a large new fan base and into potential contender status. Hendricks is a Division 1 wrestling champion so his wrestling may neutralize Koschecks take downs. Koscheck seems to only have an overhand right along side a questionable chin where as Hendricks has ko power in both hands and slightly more technical striking. Prediction Hendricks 1st round KO.
On the heels of what was a hugely successful (both in terms of action and PPV sales) UFC 145, the UFC will look to keep the momentum going with this weekend’s UFC on FOX 3 card, which features a smorgasbord of great match-ups (praise be to Joe Silva). And the only way to make a great thing even better would be to walk away with a little extra moolah, don’t you think? Because, to paraphrase what Bobby McFerrin once said, “If you don’t have cash, you don’t have style, and you sure as hell don’t have a gal to make you smile.” Something like that. So check out the tasty betting lines below, courtesy of BestFightOdds, and follow us after the jump for some sound advice that will surely score you one out of the three McFerrin keys to success. And don’t worry, none of the spreads are as insane as the current Akihiro Gono/Michael Chandler odds, which more closely resemble your chances of sleeping with Halle Berry, winning the lottery, and surviving a public bus fire in the same day.
*These lines are taken from Opposingviews.com, which has far different lines than BestFightOdds for the main card fights. They are the only site, however, with current odds for the given fights.
Thoughts…
On the heels of what was a hugely successful (both in terms of action and PPV sales) UFC 145, the UFC will look to keep the momentum going with this weekend’s UFC on FOX 3 card, which features a smorgasbord of great match-ups (praise be to Joe Silva). And the only way to make a great thing even better would be to walk away with a little extra moolah, don’t you think? Because, to paraphrase what Bobby McFerrin once said, “If you don’t have cash, you don’t have style, and you sure as hell don’t have a gal to make you smile.” Something like that. So check out the tasty betting lines below, courtesy of BestFightOdds, and follow us after the jump for some sound advice that will surely score you one out of the three McFerrin keys to success. And don’t worry, none of the spreads are as insane as the current Akihiro Gono/Michael Chandler odds, which more closely resemble your chances of sleeping with Halle Berry, winning the lottery, and surviving a public bus fire in the same day.
*These lines are taken from Opposingviews.com, which has far different lines than BestFightOdds for the main card fights. They are the only site, however, with current odds for the given fights.
Thoughts…
The Main Event: A lot is on the line for Nate Diaz come Saturday night. Sure, he’s looked nothing short of perfect in his victories over Takanori Gomi and Donald Cerrone, but Jim Miller is not a technically flawed striker in the twilight of his career, nor is he a brawler that will let his pre-fight emotions get the best of him. We all know that this fight is going to come down to a Diaz’s ability to stop a takedown, which has proved to be their undoing time and time again. That being said, we will NEVER count a Diaz out. Their ability to make a fighter look completely off their game is second to none, and they have few holes in their game to exploit (wrestling aside, of course). We’d recommend keeping Miller in your parlay, but placing a decent-sized side wager on Diaz is definitely a smart move.
The Dogs: Anytime Josh Koscheck is listed as an underdog, it’s probably worth your time (unless he’s fighting GSP). A bet on him won’t get you much in return, but the same goes twice over for Hendricks. There are several things to consider when looking at this matchup. First off, let’s look at the obvious: both guys come from a wrestling background, and both guys have solid power in their hands. Secondly, let’s look at their last fights: Kos looked rather one-dimensional in his squeaker victory over Mike Pierce, whereas Hendricks showed us that he only needs one punch to turn your lights off against Jon Fitch. Where you want to place your bet is mainly dependent on whether or not you think Hendricks will be able to defend Kos’ takedowns, or whether he can finish him before he’ll have to. Then again, maybe Koscheck’s new training camp has helped him add a few tools to his toolbox. What we’re saying is; a vote for Koscheck is a vote for tools.
At +240, Alan Belcher would look pretty damn tempting…if he wasn’t fighting a genetically engineered, psychopathic wildebeest in Rousimar Palhares. With and ever-improving striking game, as documented in his typically disorienting win over Dan Miller, ”Toquinho” has made the step up from “mini-Hulk” to full-on “eater of worlds,” and there’s nothing we can do to stop him. Unless Belcher catches Palhares early, he is going to be limping out of that octagon. The ONLY reason we are going to place a small bet on “The Talent” is because of the large chance that this fight will end by some form of DQ as a result of Palhares’ frenetic incompetence. Also, we’re masochists. Also, Belcher’s Johnny Cash tattoo.
As for the undercard, one name that stands out is John Hathaway. For a while, many people thought he was going to be the next big thing at 170. A loss to Mike Pyle all but derailed his hype train, and the fact that he’s spent a year on the shelf doesn’t help matters. Until you look at Pascal Krauss, that is, who has spent even more time on the shelf nursing various injuries, and whose only UFC win came over a late injury replacement. Hathaway should have this, just like he would have had it if these two had met at UFC 138 like God intended.
Stay the Hell Away From: The Lavar Johnson/Barry brawl. Barry is undoubtedly the more technical striker, but Johnson has a pair of Mac trucks at the end of his arms, and we’ve seen Barry fall to an inferior striker before (seriously, TRY and convince us Cheick Kongo was anything but). We think Barry will be able to catch Johnson first, but if you really want to place money on this one, save it for a prop bet on whether or not the fight lasts over a round and a half. Our bet is it doesn’t.
Official CagePotato Parlay: Miller + Palhares + Ferguson
Suggested stake for a $50 wager
$25 on the parlay
$10 on a Diaz-Hathaway parlay
$10 on Koscheck
$5 on Belcher
It’s the Ultimate Fighting Championship, not the Ultimate Friendship Championship. Nobody understands that better than UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck. In the Octagon, he’s an aggressive beast whose heavy hands and wrestling prowess have made him a perennial top-5 contender. In daily life, he’s kind of a dick. (Those are Dana White, Brian Ebersole, and Paul Daley‘s words, not ours.) In honor of Koscheck’s co-headlining fight against Johny Hendricks at this Saturday’s UFC on FOX 3: Diaz vs. Miller event, we’ve collected 12 of the most Kostastic gifs we could find on the Internet. Enjoy…
It’s the Ultimate Fighting Championship, not the Ultimate Friendship Championship. Nobody understands that better than UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck. In the Octagon, he’s an aggressive beast whose heavy hands and wrestling prowess have made him a perennial top-5 contender. In daily life, he’s kind of a dick. (Those are Dana White, Brian Ebersole, and Paul Daley‘s words, not ours.) In honor of Koscheck’s co-headlining fight against Johny Hendricks at this Saturday’s UFC on FOX 3: Diaz vs. Miller event, we’ve collected 12 of the most Kostastic gifs we could find on the Internet. Enjoy…
They’re the fighters we love to hate.They’re the ones who don’t give a crap about the fans or what the fans think.They are, to borrow a term from professional wrestling, the heels of mixed martial arts. And more often than not, they’re much bigger supe…
They’re the fighters we love to hate.
They’re the ones who don’t give a crap about the fans or what the fans think.
They are, to borrow a term from professional wrestling, the heels of mixed martial arts. And more often than not, they’re much bigger superstars than the guys who bow respectfully to their opponents and never speak out of turn.
Some of them, like Brock Lesnar, embrace the role. They play it to the hilt in an effort to gain more exposure, because more exposure means more money. Some, like Rashad Evans, don’t really want to be disliked, but the fans choose to boo them anyway.
Josh Koscheck, who faces Johny Hendricks on Saturday night at UFC on FOX in New Jersey, is one of the fighters who have embraced the role, and it’s turned him into one of the biggest and most enduring superstars in the UFC. And while Koscheck is, in fact, a great MMA heel, there are plenty of others.
Let’s take a look at the biggest heels in MMA history.
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…
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.
For more MMA goodness, check out my blog: The Fight Week
UFC on Fox 3 is stacked up to be an exciting event which will determine the title shot standings for several of the rising stars in mixed martial arts today.The outcome of this event will most likely rank Diaz or Miller as next in line for a title shot…
UFC on Fox 3 is stacked up to be an exciting event which will determine the title shot standings for several of the rising stars in mixed martial arts today.
The outcome of this event will most likely rank Diaz or Miller as next in line for a title shot after Henderson and Edgar duke it out one more time for the lightweight championship belt.
May 5 may also solidify Josh Koscheck’s second chance at welterweight gold or give Johny Hendricks his first shot at the title once Condit and St. Pierre unify the welterweight belt at an unknown time.
I’m also looking forward to watching Rousimar Palahares try to enforce his brutal submission game on the Muay Thai talents of Alan Belcher. The winner of this fight could find themselves fighting for the number-one contender’s spot if they can bring home a W after this event.
It is without a doubt the purpose of this card to bring mainstream attention and glory to the next possible champions for the lightweight, welterweight and middleweight division. Here are my predictions about which fighters will be garnering all that fame.
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.