Josh Koscheck still has his sights set on a welterweight title shot.
The former No. 1 contender to the 170-pound belt is on a two-fight win streak since he lost a five-round decision to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 124 in Montreal in December 2010.
However, after that championship loss, it would be more than 10 months before he fought again, taking on former champion Matt Hughes in a battle of veterans uncertain of what their futures held in the weight class. At the time, Koscheck mulled over a move up to 185 pounds, as it was thought another crack at GSP might not be happening anytime soon.
The 34-year-old NCAA Division I wrestling champion said that consideration was just based on circumstances and a lack of suitable matchups at the time.
“Nobody was stepping up to fight me and saying, ‘Oh, I want to fight Josh,’ so I figured, what the hell, why not take some challenges and step up to middleweight,” Koscheck said on a conference call last week. “Right now, there are a lot of good, young fighters in the middleweight division that definitely intrigue me to get fights with.”
Koscheck hasn’t competed as a middleweight since the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, when he was a cast member. He lost to Diego Sanchez by split decision on the show, but was given a fight on the finale, where he beat Chris Sanford by knockout in his UFC debut April 2005. That was the only official professional fight at 185 pounds for the natural welterweight.
In his proper division, St-Pierre still holds the welterweight belt while Carlos Condit, thanks to his win over Nick Diaz at UFC 143 in February, is the interim title-holder with GSP out with injury until likely November at the earliest.
Koscheck, who is coming off a split-decision victory over Mike Pierce on the same UFC 143 card, said he’s no longer thinking about returning to middleweight and his focus is squarely on 170 pounds right now.
“Obviously, there are two champions in this division, so hopefully that pans out and gets the division back into the right direction so there is one champion and hopefully that final shot of interest.”
Fans will soon find out if there is still interest in seeing Koscheck move up toward another title shot. This Saturday, he takes on Johny Hendricks in the co-main event of UFC on FOX 3 in East Rutherford, N.J. The 28-year-old Hendricks, who is coming off a stunning 12-second knockout of Koscheck’s former teammate Jon Fitch, is a rising star in the 170-pound class with only one blemish on his record, a decision loss to Rick Story in December 2010.
Koscheck believes their tilt will be critical for both fighters.
“I know there’s a lot riding on this fight, I think for both of us. The winner goes on to a nice path towards the title shot and the loser goes who knows where. So there’s a lot at stake for this fight and I’m ready to roll.”
NOT OK WITH AKA: Koscheck, a longtime member of American Kickboxing Academy, has started his own gym in Fresno, Calif., and has severed his association with the San Jose-based facility, which is home to other UFC fighters such as Fitch, lightweight contender Gray Maynard and former heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez.
He said he will still have AKA trainer Bob Cook in his corner and that Cook has been coming to train him a couple times a week. But his split with his former team was not on good terms. Asked by a reporter on last week’s conference call if he’ll still be representing AKA in this fight, Koscheck replied: "You’re joking right?”
He added: “I have a new gym that’s called Dethrone Base Camp and that’s where I’ll be fighting out of from now on.”
