The fantastic welterweight match up between Josh Koscheck and Yoshiyuki Yoshida, which MMAmania.com first passed along right here, will serve as the main event for UFC Fight Night 16: “Fight for the Troops” at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C., on Wednesday, December 10.
USA Today today confirmed the complete line up, as well as talked to “Kos” about his big 170-pound showdown with “Zenko.”
Here’s a snip:
“I really [don’t] know too much about him. I just know he’s a pretty good judo player. And he comes to fight. For me, at the level that we’re at, I’m just here to fight whoever they put in front of me and try to finish him quick, get the victory and move one step closer to becoming the UFC world champion.”
To check out the complete UFC Fight Night 16: “Fight for the Troops” fight card, which will begin to air at 8 p.m. ET on Spike TV, click here.
Remember that the special three-hour special presentation is a free event just for the troops — tickets are not available for purchase for the general public.
The special event, however, is designed to raise funds for the construction of The National Intrepid Center of Excellence, a treatment center for Armed Forces personnel who have experienced traumatic brain injuries.
Therefore, donations are accepted and encouraged.
62 Comments »
Sweet, solid matchup. I’ve got Yoshida.
wAR YOSHIDA!
News break to Koschek…..U WILL NEVER BECOME UFC CHAMPION!!!! get over it!
at least he’ll never beat GSP or BJ but I think he’ll probably over power yoshida
i cant stand koscheck, but i think your right, he’s probably too strong for yoshida and will dominate him on the ground. yoshida’s judo might come in handy if he is able to put koscheck on his back and keep him there, but i just dont see that happening. hope im wrong.
To many Koscheck haters, Koscheck is going to F**K up Yoshida, He won’t get Judo thrown though the mats lol, His wrestling will Deffinantly pervent that, Yoshida is going to get TKO’d. To bad im going to miss this fight…
yoshida may be able to use Koc’s momentum during takedown to throw him with his Judo throws. Koschek is like a retard when on his back. If Yoshida can put Kos on his back, he has a chance!
Kos. is great…. Hope he can take this one. They have been feeding him win but this one will not be easy…..I will take Kos, he is too good to loose this one.I hate to say it, but Yoshida has become a STEPPING-STONE. Yoshida NEEDS this one.But he will not win.
who has used him as a stepping stone? hes undefeated in the UFC
what r u talking about brendan he got straight up out wrestled by gsp
i hope youre being sarcastic
oh i meant Yoshida, woops, misunderstanding
Yoshida is a BALLER! He is the real deal! Thihs guy is no ones stepping stone. Not saying he will beat Kos, although I give Yoshida a great chance, but Yoshida has a very bright future ahead of him in the UFC’s welterweight division.
Already, I think he could beat guys like Marcus davis, Swick or Rumble. Give this guy time to get situated and he wil be a ww MONSTER!
If Kos thinks he can use Yoshida as a stepping stone (which doesn’t make sense because he’s already fought the champ once) then he’d been in for one ride. Although I think Kos would probably take this, Yoshida is one stone that hits back so I’ll be picking Yoshida to win the upset.
The Parisyan situation didn’t turn out too bad for Zenko. I got him too, hopefully he makes a big splash over a top 5 opponent.
Guess the memory of him getting wtfpwned for 3 rounds by GSP has been repressed…
wtfpwned?
I can appreciate GSp just like the next guy, but that was far from wtfpwned. Kos was outwrestled for three rounds. GSP really did next to nothing in that fight. And it was closer than I than I think you think … watch it again. wtfpwned I do not think applies.
people just hate josh koscheck and love to suck gsp’s nuts. Im use to it now and i dont care how many people hate kos im still rooting for the guy to win and i think he has what it takes to be champion
While on the topic of “wtfpwned”, WTF does that mean??
* My “WTF” stands for “WHAT THE FUCK”
wtfpwned=what the fuck owned. online gaming retard talk, obviously about 18 years old or younger, at least maturity wise.
How does the “p” fit in? lol
I’m not even sure what wtfpwned means????
Yeah me neither. It just sounds like he thinks GSP wrecked/handled Kos and that didn’t really happen.
me niether, but it probably applies more to the gsp/fich fight. kos was gsp’s 1rst fight after being humiliated by serra, so i think he kind of played it safe. if they ever have a rematch i think gsp would beat him alot worse.
great point BW. I agree. Gsp was picking Kos apart with that superman/leg kick combo
GSP outwrestled the “wrestler”, GSP will beat him 9 times out of 10. GSP was never even in trouble.
GSP beats Kos 10 times out of 10! Kos has 2 ways of winning. Out wrestling his opponent or throwing an overhand right. GSP would have this well scouted and beat Kurly Q Kos every single time!
PS. I am not a fan of GSP.
PSS. I hate Kos.
PSSS. LOL
* And he already proved that he can and will outwrestle Kurly Q Kos.
* And he already proved that he can and will outwrestle Kurly Q Kos.
He did outwrestle Koscheck and I am sure in a rematch GSP would not be hesitant to stand. He would give Koscheck the beating of his life just like Fitch got. Koscheck would be doing MMA math in his head all day.
Koscheck: Fitch kicks my a** everyday in training, GSP already outwrestled me, and GSP destroyed the who beats me down everyday, I’m fu*ked…
lMAO BNF!
I’m with the guys on this one as well. To me, GSP was also proving a point in that fight. In that, he went in there and beat Kos at his own game. At the game in which Kos was, at the time, widely regarded as the best in his division. Not sure how one might perceive that fight as close, although I admit I haven’t seen it in a while. I mean Mania, if you say GSP completely outwrestled Kos, yet “did next to nothing in that fight”, what does that say about what Kos was able to do in that fight? Less than nothing?
Exactly! like or not haters,Kos was 1 takedown away from winning that fight.
Yeah, Koscheck wtfpwned GSP.
1 takedown away? What?
No.
im going with yoshida on this one. kos didnt really strike with lytle at all last time even tho he says hes not just a wrestler now, and backed away at the end of the fight cos he knew he had won and the crowd was booing him
why would he want to strike with lylte a guy who has boxed professionaly and has heavy heavy hands and was coming off 15 second knock out win?
whatever, koscheck is still a biatch!
feel free to step into the cage with lytle and throw hands then
how come everybody is a kos hater? The guy is a good fighter and wins fights, im still baffled as to how diego jumped in front of him in the title shot pecking order. I think the winner of the sanchez vs. alves fight should fight the winner of this fight in order to determine the true number one contender. Kos has put on exciting fights ever since he beat diego, Many of u call his fight with gsp boring but all gsp did was lay on top of him, he then koed hazlett and then beat lytle to a bloody pulp but many of u still say that fight was won by lay and pray, kos and alves are the only two fighters in the ww division that have any chance of beating gsp. Outside of serra and hughes beating gsp, kos was the one who provided the biggest challenge. Hughes was then stomped twice and serra was stomped in his rematch. Fitch was completely beat down for five rounds and kos came out of his fight with gsp suffering no damage and i think he has a good chance of winning in a rematch but to honest i think alves has the best chance out of anybody that dude is a tank.
He’s in front because Kos already had a title shot.
Well I guess it wasn’t a title shot at the time.
The memory of GSP soundly beating him is pretty recent in any event.
definitley was not a title shot but kos gave gsp his toughest fight to date in one which he one, the only other tough fights he has had was getting koed by serra and he later went on to demolish him, and getting armbarred by hughes when he was still young and in my opinion not ready for a title shot, he then went on to demolish hughes the next two times they fought. GSP layed and prayed his way to victory over koscheck
And Kos layed there and did nothing, I mean nothing. Post fight, GSP looks like he just came from another Mens Fitness or GQ photoshoot.
Mayhem Miller gave GSP a beter fight than Kos did!
and kos walked out of that fight in the same condidtion as he walked into it. Looked what happened to serra and hughes when they were on the bottom against gsp the got hammered
Chase, are you really Matt in disguise and trying to fool us into thinking that there is actually more than one Koscheck fan in the world?
haha i guess there is just two kos fans in the world
Im pretty damn sure Kos could beat BJ but obviously he cant beat gsp. Either way im going with Yoshi for this fight.
Re-read your first 8 words of your post and then hit your crack pipe a few more times.
Kos can only win by taking his opponent down. BJ has the most dangerous guard around. How does Kos win that, easily?
All he would have is a reach advantage, that’s it. BJ is the waaaay more technical striker and he’d be able to show just how novice-like Kos’s standup really is.
LMAO
I would like to see Kos win… but Im going to have to go with Yoshida. If Kos keeps it on the ground.. he has a good chance tho.
I am a Kos hater, but I think Kos will win this fight. As far as who can beat GSP goes, I think Alves is the only one right now. Kos will not beat GSP or even come close in a rematch. GSP has always had much better stand up than him and is now a better wrestler than Kos.
I don’t see how Diego jumped in front of Kos either, but he won’t get his shot because he won’t beat Alves.
I would not mind seeing Kos and Diego go at it again though after their next fights.
You guys are nuts if you think Kos was “1 take down” away from beating GSP… I think Kos was “1 short grab” away from having his arm ripped off
Even Kos wouldnt say something that dumb “1 takedown away” haha
oh shrek! this 1 is gonna be goood. don’t know much about yoshida except that he put War Machine to sleep faster than elephant tranquilizer to the neck vein, and he’s pretty good. Evvvvverybody thought Lytle was gonna KO koscheck. THAT didn’t happen either. I know people are still to this day salty balls over the Koscheck Leben fandango, but that was Ultimate Fighter Season 1! haahahaha..those people need to get over it and get on with their life. I’m leaning towards the known good: Koscheck by donkeykong coconut chizzle or michael phelps free style stroke swick out. uhhhh…maybe
who thought lytle was going to KO Kos? Kos was a solid favorite to win that fight, 2 to 1 i believe
i like kos but i dont think he’ll ever be a champion he’s not really all that exciting true hes top5 WW and a great fighter but if he wins a belt ill bring a pillow to my friends house to watch his ppv fights
Go judo…
I think Yoshida is being overrated. This matchup will be tough for him. Killer Bee (a smaller guy, one of the smaller in the division) outwrestled him their entire fight and was winning handily until he was reversed trying to get the back (was lazy in getting hooks). Kos is a bigger, more explosive wrestler and should control him easy. They shouldn’t be clinching too much for him to work his Judo and Kos even probably has the advantage standing.
Anybody that suggests that Koscheck was a “Takedown” away from winning the GSP fight is confusing MMA with WRESTLING… GSP won the fight because he controlled Koscheck and was trying to submit him. He also stuffed a couple of Koscheck’s takedown attempts and delivered some ground and pound at the end of the fight.
MMA is about combining all the elements together… Something GSP does MUCH better than Koscheck ever will. It’s not that I dislike Koscheck, I’m just realistic about his talents and his progress through MMA to date. He is good but not THAT good.
Ok,i’ll break it down for you.Kos wins round 1 on 2/3 judges scorecards.GSP wins round 2 on all 3.Round 3 is th crucial round,the first 3 minutes is all standing,Georges is getting the better of it,with legkicks but he’s not being very aggresive.He’s keeping the distance because he’s afraid of Josh’s takedown power.2 minutes from the end of the fight Kos grabs a leg looking for a takedown,GSP beautifully sprawls and lands in top position and finishes the fight strong.If Kos was succesful with that takedown and was busy with gnp in the last 2 minutes of the fight he would have probably taken the round and the fight.
Kos has made some of the fastest improvement in mma from being just a wrestler. He outstruck Deigo with superior genetic speed. He looked slow with GSP, as did Fitch after getting rocked fast and never fully recovered. BJ if in shape has the best chance of beating GSP. BJ has an awesome underated jab that f*cked up GSP and stuffed most of his takedowns in the early rounds. When he got tired GSP went to work. A Focused BJ will be GSP.