Josh Koscheck is no stranger to trash talk and hyping up a fight.
So it should have come as no surprise when he referred to Johny (Bigg Rigg) Hendricks, his opponent Saturday night at the UFC show in East Rutherford N.J., as “Mr. Lucky Punch” in reference to his 12-second, one-punch knockout of Koscheck’s former American Kickboxing Academy teammate Jon Fitch.
That’s actually quite benign for Koscheck — a veteran of both physical and verbal jabbing. Calling his 5-foot-9, 170-pound opponent “fat boy”? That could be quite hurtful.
Apparently, it wasn’t to Hendricks.
“No, I don’t take anything personal,” said the 28-year-old. “I’ll be the first one to tell you I am fat. I love McDonald’s, I love Taco Bell. But whenever it comes fight time I’m always ready.”
Hendricks, a native of Ada, Okla., who trains out Team Takedown in Dallas, says it’s pretty easy to develop some thick skin in the mixed martial arts fight game.
“I’ve got 12 guys who I work out with everyday that say worse things to me. That’s just the nature of the beast and that’s what sells fights.”
An NCAA Division 1 wrestling champion, Hendricks has had a pretty good run so far in MMA. Actually, that’s a bit of an understatement, considering he’s 12-1, with his only loss a unanimous decision to Rick Story.
Yet up until his UFC 141 bout against former No. 1 contender Jon Fitch in December, he had mostly flown under the radar. However, when you knock out a guy who hadn’t been stopped in nine years and whose only loss in that period was to welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre — and you do it in no more than a dozen seconds — it’s hard not to get noticed.
Now he’s got a second consecutive fight against a former No. 2 welterweight. So he knows a win against Koscheck will propel him even further.
And he’s not taking the 34-year-old Koscheck (17-5) lightly.
“He’s a tough opponent,” Hendricks said. “You don’t stay number two or number three in the world for as many years as he’s been without being a tough fighter and that’s why I got into the division is to see if I have what it takes to compete with these guys.”
Hendricks, who has less experience but is actually a favourite against Koscheck, thinks it will be a very close fight — and not necessarily the type of fight one might expect between two accomplished, high-level wrestlers.
“I would say probably I think this fight’s actually pretty even because we’re both complete fighters,” Hendricks said. “We both like to hit people in the face, but I believe that it’s going to be a little bit of everywhere because the later you go in the rounds the easier it is to get takedowns and stuff like that.
“So I think you’re going to see that, you’re not going to see just another boring wrestling match. I think it’s going to be a fun one for everybody to watch. So I can’t wait.”
And dare we say a win in Saturday night’s co-main event could put him in close to a title shot?
“Hopefully soon,” Hendricks said. “Hopefully soon.”
Watch Saturday’s UFC Live: Diaz vs. Miller on Sportsnet East, Ontario and West starting at 8 p.m. ET. The undercard can be seen on Sportsnet ONE starting at 5 p.m. ET.
