Pierce hopes to give fans 'what they want'

The forgotten part of the Georges St-Pierre, Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit "war triangle" is the other fighters affected.

Josh Koscheck was expected to fight Condit on Saturday’s UFC 143 in Las Vegas before the latest GSP injury bumped Condit back to a main event. That left Koscheck without an opponent.

Mike Pierce saw the opening and so the 31-year-old decided to call out the former No. 1 welterweight contender. Why so quick? The decision was two-fold.

"No. 1 it’s a good opportunity for me and No. 2 it’s good for the fans just to give them what they want," Pierce said. “Because it’s my opinion that generally the fans don’t really cheer for that guy and they love to see him get his ass beat. So that’s what we’re going to try to do."

Koscheck, who has said publicly he didn’t know much about Pierce, didn’t have any trouble accepting the challenge.

"It’s the old saying: anytime, anywhere, anyplace. I’ll fight anybody," Koscheck said. "That was pretty much my reaction. Let’s do it. It was either that, take this fight with Pierce or sit out for six months and wait for somebody else to open up."

Watch two hours of live UFC 143 preliminary fights Saturday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.

It’s actually a matchup that might have happened a couple of years ago. They were scheduled to meet at a UFC Fight Night in January 2010. But when Brock Lesnar was forced to pull out of the main event of UFC 106 in November 2009, the UFC needed to beef up that card. So they pulled Koscheck out of the Pierce matchup and had him take on Anthony Johnson in the co-main event.

Pierce was then matched up against Jon Fitch at UFC 107 in December 2009. Was Pierce disappointed with the UFC’s move?

"No, because Jon Fitch at the time was ranked No. 2 in the world behind GSP and at the time I kind of figured stylistically it would be a better matchup both for myself and for the fans. I wasn’t disappointed, it was kind of like a reward almost."

Pierce lost the bout, but actually came pretty close to finishing Fitch late in the third round. That was a bit of an eye opener as nobody -- not even St-Pierre, who dominated Fitch for five rounds in 2008 -- had come close to doing that, and still hadn’t. Not until Johny Hendricks knocked him out in 12 seconds at UFC 141 this past December.

Pierce, whose only other loss in his past 12 fights was against Hendricks last August, wasn’t shocked by that result.

"I was surprised it happened so early on, but he hit (Fitch) with a straight left since Johny’s a southpaw," Pierce said. “I’d hit Jon with a left hook, and so that side of his body is kind of open for people to capitalize on and Johny just found the perfect time for that straight left and landed it and ended the night early."

Pierce now faces Koscheck, a teammate of Fitch and the biggest name he’s faced since that fight. He thinks the experience of fighting Fitch helped but that he’s a different fighter by “leaps and bounds” from back then.

He still considers his takedowns and clinch game to be his strengths but he believes he’s much more well-rounded and has the right game plan to face Koscheck.

"I plan on keeping him on his heels the whole time," Pierce said. "He’s one of those guys who doesn’t fight well going backwards and I think if I engage him and be the bigger bully, then he’s going to have a rough night. He has a reputation of moving guys back and getting them on their heels and when he has the momentum it’s hard to stop him so I’m going to try to dish it out the other way and see what it does."

Pierce, who has never been finished in his career, credits his wrestling background for that claim.

"Growing up as a kid, it was pounded into my head as a wrestler to always stay in good position. If you stay in good position you’re never going to get taken down, you’re never going to be caught off guard and surprised. I kind of carried that mentality over to MMA."

Ironically, it hasn’t been Koscheck with the history of trash-talking, who has initiated it this time around. Pierce has been vocal, saying he wants to break Koscheck both physically and mentally.

Once the taunts got going however, Koscheck replied, saying he want to make an example of Pierce.

The younger American laughs that off.

"First off, I don’t think he’s going to make an example of me. Everyone has said they were going to do that and they haven’t. He’s not going to be the first,” Pierce said. “As far as trash talking goes, he really hasn’t done much. Apart from the small segments he’s said on Countdown, he’s been relatively quiet on Twitter. Usually his MO is to talk a lot more than he has, so it’s a bit surprising. It makes me kind of think that he’s worried about this fight. Maybe a little nervous."

His opponent’s response?

"I’m not worried, not nervous,” Koscheck insisted. "Mike Pierce wants to try to build his name off of me, that ain’t happening. Why am I going to build Mike Pierce? Let Mike Pierce deal with himself."

Koscheck also believes that the less-experienced Pierce is only adding extra weight on himself.

"There’s no pressure on my shoulders. The pressure is on Mike Pierce. He’s the one that’s got to step up and come out there and back up all that s--- talk he’s been doing."

James Brydon is the Managing Digital Editor and blogger for sportsnet.ca's UFC section.