Josh Koscheck entered this past Saturday night a heavy favorite. His opponent was Paulo Thiago, an unknown and undefeated Brazilian making his UFC debut. Koscheck’s victory was a forgone conclusion, Vegas had him favored at -450. That all changed with an uppercut and a left hook, once again demonstrating that in MMA all it takes is one punch to end a fight.
There is an adage in the NFL that on any given Sunday any team can win. The same holds true for MMA. It is just the nature of the beast, Joe Rogan summed it up when he said, “with those little gloves anything can happen at any moment.” (For those looking for a more in depth analysis as to why a four-ounce glove can deliver powerful knockouts check out this previous analysis.)
While the fight did spawn a debate over whether the stoppage was premature or not, it doesn’t change the outcome. Koscheck, the consensus fourth ranked welterweight in the world, suffered his first knockout defeat in his career.
Koscheck may be the latest victim of the welterweight meat grinder. After all, the UFC’s welterweight division is the deepest in all of MMA. Besides holding nine of the top – ten welterweights, the division has also witnessed several major upsets: George St. Pierre’s stunning loss to Matt Serra, Thiago Alves destruction of Matt Hughes and now Josh Koschek’s knockout loss to an unknown Paulo Thiago.
Will this loss foreshadow a fall out of the top five, or will Koscheck be able to rebound?
Ultimately, we will have to wait and see if Koscheck can handle the sudden adversity facing him after such a stunning loss. One fighter who knows what it is like to handle such a shock is George St. Pierre. St. Pierre’s loss to Matt Serra was the greatest upset in UFC history, but St. Pierre did not wilt under his failure. He came back stronger then ever, defeating Josh Koscheck, Matt Serra, Jon Fitch and B.J. Penn.
Koscheck now finds himself in a similar place as the current welterweight champion, though the road may be more difficult. There are questions over what the UFC will do with Josh in the future. Will the UFC give him another rising welterweight or perhaps they will match him against a fellow top-ten welterweight, perhaps Carlos Condit or the victor of Serra – Hughes. Whoever Koscheck is matched up against, his demise has opened a window in the welterweight division. There is now no obvious heir to the current number one contender Thiago Alves.
There is still time for Koscheck to repair the damage, but he must rise to occasion as St. Pierre did, when he lost to Serra.
Zak Woods is the founder of WatchKalibRun.com
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I’ll be the first one to say that Koscheck took his opponent lightly in this fight and that it cost him dearly. I think that many fans, however, recognize the fact that he did simply get caught. I hope he still gets to face quality opponents in his next few fights and is given the chance to rebound. I think he will make the most of it and not make the same mistake twice.
Id like to still see him fighting top 5-6 at 170, to clear a few things up on the knockout what u dont see on tv is that when the ref holds koscheck after the knockout when he stands he fell into the cage and his legs were all over the place, as the tv camera cut to him he’s fine got over the knockout as u do and wasnt happy with the stoppage, but he was out and couldnt stand well after, only the ref kept him up.
Personally I would love to see the UFC put him up against the top in the division so he can actively rebuild.
Clearly this fight was suppose to be a build up bout for a title shot. We saw the same thing with Keith Jardine and Houston Alexander.
But what the UFC needs to do is put Koscheck against the top tier to rebound. Nothing like the Fitch Akhiro bout.