Josh Koscheck

UFC 103 Notes: Belfort Moves to Forefront of Middleweight Title Picture

A win over Rich Franklin was expected to make Vitor Belfort an instant contender for Anderson Silva’s UFC middleweight title. But according to UFC President Dana White, Belfort may have positioned himself as the leading candidate for Silva’s next title defense, even before Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt.

“You know, I think he might be ready now,” White said at last night’s UFC 103 post-fight press conference.

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Belfort Beats Franklin in Return at UFC 103

Vitor Belfort’s return to the UFC was a successful one as the former UFC light heavyweight champion decked former UFC middleweight king Rich Franklin with a series of punches that resulted in a first-round TKO win for the heavy-handed Brazilian in the main event of UFC 103 on Saturday night in Dallas, Texas.

Up until the ending sequence, the bout didn’t feature much action. Belfort (19-8) and Franklin (25-5) exchanged leg kicks and short jabs, but neither put together any offense of note that landed. Things completely changed however after Belfort clipped Franklin with an overhand left during an exchange.

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UFC 103: “Franklin vs. Belfort” Live Results

We will be going live at 6:00 PM ET with live results of UFC 103: “Franklin vs. Belfort”, which will take place at a sold out American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The event’s televised main card will be broadcast live on pay-per-view starting at 10:00 PM ET. An additional hour of preliminary bouts will also be shown on Spike TV starting at 9:00 PM ET prior to that.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort headlines the event, returning to the UFC in a 195 lb catchweight bout against former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin. A heavyweight contenders clash between formidable strikers Mirko Cro Cop and Junior Dos Santos serves as the co-main event.

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Larson Tapped to Replace Koscheck at UFC 98

Fresh off of his first-round win over UFC newcomer Jesse Sanders at last week’s UFC Fight Night 18 event, Minnesota native Brock Larson has reportedly been tapped to replace an injured Josh Koscheck against Team Quest product Chris Wilson at UFC 98 on May 23:

Just days after an injury suffered in training forced Josh Koscheck (12-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) out of a UFC 98 bout with Chris Wilson (14-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC), the organization has apparently secured a replacement.

MMAjunkie.com has learned from sources close to the bout that recent WEC import Brock Larson (25-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) has agreed to fill in for Koscheck at the event. Wilson has also made a verbal commitment to the matchup, though bout agreements have yet to be finalized.

UFC 98 is scheduled for May 23 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The Larson-Wilson matchup is an interesting one, at least in my mind. Both fighters are very good wrestlers, but aren’t great, and could therefore cancel each other out and force this fight to take place on the feet, where neither fighter has a distinct advantage.

Larson is riding a wave of momentum due to a four-fight winning streak and a cancelled WEC welterweight title shot is quickly turning into another run in his UFC return. A loss will likely force Wilson out of the UFC as well, so both fighters could turn in spirited performances in this one.

Koscheck, Thiago Talk Welterweight Battle

In the above video, standout collegiate wrestler Josh Koscheck and UFC newcomer Paulo Thiago discusses their upcoming welterweight bout at UFC 95, which takes place this Saturday in London, England.

Report: Koscheck to Face Newcomer Thiago at UFC 95 in London

American Kickboxing Academy product and “Ultimate Fighter” alumnus Josh Koscheck will reportedly take on UFC newcomer Paulo Thiago when the organization travels in London, England for UFC 95 on February 21.

The news comes from a report by Tatame.com, citing Thiago’s coach with the Constrictor fight team, Ataíde Junior.

After dropping a disappointing decision to Thiago Alves at UFC 90 in October, Koscheck bounced back to score a devastating knockout of Yoshiyuki Yoshida at the UFC’s “Fight for the Troops” event on December 10.

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Cantwell Receives Bonus for Submission Win at “Fight for the Troops”

Former WEC light heavyweight champion Steve Cantwell received a $30,000 bonus after earning “Submission of the Night” honors following his first-round submission win over UFC newcomer Razak Al-Hussan during the UFC’s “Fight for the Troops” card in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Wednesday night.

Cantwell forced referee Mario Yamasaki to halt his main card bout against Al-Hussan in the first round after Cantwell dislocated his opponent’s right elbow with a fight-ending armbar. Contrary to reports immediately after the event, Al-Hussan’s arm was never broken and he has since been treated at a nearby hospital and released.

Josh Koscheck also received “Knockout of the Night” honors for his brutal first-round stoppage of Japanese welterweight Yoshiyuki Yoshida while lightweights Matt Wiman and Jim Miller were awarded for the night’s best fight. Koscheck, Wiman, and Miller each received $30,000 bonuses as well.

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Koscheck Blasts Yoshida at “Fight for the Troops”

Josh Koscheck bounced back from a disappointing decision loss to Thiago Alves in October by knocking out Japanese welterweight sensation Yoshiyuki Yoshida in the featured attraction of the UFC’s “Fight for the Troops” card in Fayetteville, North Carolina last night.

The evening was focused on the UFC’s attempts to raise money for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which will go towards building a state-of-the-art facility that will help soldiers that have suffered tramuatic brain injuries. Following his stoppage of Yoshida, Koscheck asked those watching around the world what else it would take for them to make a small donation towards the cause.

“If that wasn’t worth $5 bucks from every UFC fan, I don’t know what else I can do,” Koscheck said.

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UFC, Jon Fitch and AKA Come to Terms

Less than 24 hours after Jon Fitch was cut from his UFC contract, it was reported today by his management that they have come to terms.  Thus Jon Fitch’s free agency is over.

“Crazy” Bob Cook of Zinkin Entertainment and the American Kickboxing Academy told Sherdog.com about the process.

“We just spent an hour on the phone with Lorenzo [Fertitta],” said Cook, “and cooler heads have prevailed.”

When asked about the negotiations, Cook stated that Fertitta and UFC President Dana White were “on the same page” when it came to their goals but that their approaches were as different as night and day…

...Cook, who was singled out by White as part of the problem, stated Fertitta assured him the working relationship between their camp and White was salvageable.

As for the fates of welterweight contender Josh Koscheck and heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez—both of whom were rumored to be next on the chopping block—as well as heavyweight Christian Wellisch, who was cut along with Fitch on Wednesday, Cook stated that all of the fighters have worked out agreements to remain with the UFC.

This is the exact type of scenario why Lorenzo Fertitta has taken on more of a role in the day to day operations of Zuffa, LLC.

This does not excuse Dana White’s actions in this case at all.  But at least in the end, a talent like Jon Fitch remains in the organization that hand down, has the majority of the best welterweights in the world today.

UFC Cuts Jon Fitch Among Others

The UFC yesterday released #3 ranked welterweight contender Jon Fitch for failing to sign a document that gives lifetime rights to his likeness in any future video games.  The story, first broken by MMA Mania, is developing very quickly.  Apparently, Christian Wellisch has also been cut and fellow AKA treammates Josh Koscheck and Cain Velasquez are also on the chopping block following their upcoming fights. 

Fitch, who was defeated in a 5 round war with champion Georges St. Pierre in his last turn in the octagon, was completely taken by surprise by this move.  According to MMAWeekly...

“This is like over the course of two days, three days,” Fitch explained about the release. “It had to do with Dana (White) calling my managers and immediately saying, ‘we need to get him to sign this contract’ and ‘it’s a big favor to me.’ Then we asked him, ‘Why do you need this contract signed?’

“Then we finally asked, after reading through the contract, why can’t we negotiate for different terms? Because it asked me for a lifetime contract for the video games, so they would have exclusive rights to use our likeness for these video games and we couldn’t go and do any other video games ever again in our lifetime.”

Before anything was decided, Fitch says his managers tried to re-negotiate a different deal from the lifetime contract, but an ultimatum was soon made.

“So basically we said we weren’t cool with that deal and why can’t we do it for five or 10 years? Why does it have to be a lifetime deal? Their next response was, ‘either you guys are in or you’re out’ and ‘sign this or you’re going to get dropped from the UFC,’” said Fitch. “So we hear that and we didn’t even think they were serious. Why would you want to release fighters at our level over something like that? Doesn’t make any sense.

“Within two phone calls, it got to ‘sign this or you guys are out.’”

Dana White’s response was pretty typical of him.  On Yahoo Sports.

“We’re looking for guys who want to work with us and not against us, and frankly I’m just so [expletive] sick of this [expletive] it’s not even funny. Affliction is still out there trying to build its company. Let [Fitch] go work with them. Let him see what he thinks of those [expletives]. [Expletive] him. These guys aren’t partners with us. [Expletive] them. All of them, every last [expletive] one of them…. I’m not a douche bag and I do a lot for these guys, a lot more than any of you will ever know. We’re in a horrible time in the economy now, and every guy with two nickels to rub together is making a run at us. We’ve worked too hard, given too much, to let certain guys come in and [expletive] with that.”

White later toned down thhe rhetoric on the “Carmichael Dave” radio show.

“No, no, no. It has nothing to do with an agreement. It doesn’t have to do with Jon Fitch either. I like Jon Fitch. I’ve never had a bad word with Jon Fitch. The problem is with the idiots that run AKA. I won’t use any names; the idiots know who they are.”

I’m sure there will be a lot more to this story in the upcoming days.