Josh Koscheck will replace an injured Diego Sanchez to fight Thiago Alves on less than two weeks notice at UFC 90: “Silva vs. Cote” at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., on October 25.
“The Nightmare” had to withdraw from the highly anticipated welterweight showdown because of torn rib cartilage sustained during training the promotion just announced.
Koscheck — who is still scheduled to fight Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC Fight Night 16: “Fight for the Troops” on December 10 — has won nine of 11 bouts inside the Octagon since his stint on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) back in early 2005, transforming from a world class wrestler into a dangerous well-rounded fighter in less than three years.
He has faced top competition in the loaded division in his last five appearances, including a showdown with current welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre (he was not champion at the time). He lost that bout via three-round decision but won over a legion of new fans with the performance for being able to hang with the uber talented Canadian.
Koscheck has since defeated rising star Dustin Hazelett with a second round technical knockout at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion” back in March and grizzled veteran Chris Lytle via bloodbath, er, unanimous decision at UFC 86: “Jackson vs. Griffin” this past July.
With a win over Yoshida, the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) standout would have been knocking on the door for a title shot along with the winner of the previously scheduled bout between Diego Sanchez and Thiago Alves.
Well, opportunity knocked sooner rather than later and “Kos” has answered the call to fight “The Pitbull” to possibly determine the next 170-pound title challenger. In fact, we’re told that if “Kos” can defeat Alves and then beat Yoshida he is guaranteed the winner of the fight between UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn sometime in early 2009.
Alves is fresh of ridiculous performance against Matt Hughes, taking out the former champion in the second round of their main event tilt at UFC 85: “Bedlam” just last month. Prior to that, “The Pitbull” wiped out another perennial powerhouse, Karo Parisyan, at UFC Fight Night 13.
The 24-year-old Brazilian was already on the fast track to an eventual title shot. And a win over Koscheck would certainly put him over the top.
This is a fine replacement for a co-main event to go along with the middleweight showdown between 185-pound champion Anderson Silva and challenger Patrick Cote.
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121 Comments »
I think that Josh actually has a better chance than diego against thiago
the triad of losers in the UFC… i care more about whos going to be zenko’s opponent than any one of these clowns, maybe a light fixture will fall and knock them both out
I guess maybe sanchez or Karo could face him if they can get healed back in time. I am still taking Alves. He might be facing a better wrestler but it think he matches up better against Kos.
oh god, wheres Chase? he’ll nut himself over this.
i liked deigo vs alves a whole helluva lot more than this, but they couldn’t a better guy to fight alves. unless it was swick or fitch, but i dont think either one woulda been ready. oh well. im neutral now. just hoping for a good fight.
lol chase is koshcecks biggest fan.. koscheck tko 2nd rd
Kos actually fights much like Fitch does, minus the submission skills. If Kos can get him on the ground and manage to get to side, mount, or back, then he’ll TKO Alves. I also think that Kos has good enough stand up to hold his own, and if he has a really good night, I can see him winning a decision on the feet. I dunno. Kos by decision. I’m not really an Alves fan. Alves just needs to keep it standing to win. Duh.
Got a question: For example, if all Matt Hughes has is wrestling and submissions and he is one dimensional, does that make Alves one dimensional too? All he has is good Thai skills (knees kicks punches) and size. I say Alves is one-dimensional. A good wrestler or jits guy who could get him to the ground would show that.
good question ..but if you look at it that way almost anyone could be one dimensional or however u spell that lol. the only thing i hate are the wrestlers that lay n pray. i could care less about the others who are strikers or bjj fighters cause 10 times out of 10 their fights are more entertaining than the lay n prays. styles make fights.
Alves has good enough defense ground game that he can tie up and stall out for stand ups. His takedown defense is also pretty good. Kos doesn’t have decent standup or a crazy pace so Alves just needs to time his shots and kill him with a knee.
Alves may have improved TD defense, but Kos has the 2nd best TD’s in the division. Weighing 20 lbs more than a over the hill Matt Hughes does not mean you have great TD defense. Kos WILL be able to put Thiago on his back.
Regarding the matchup, props to Kos for stepping up. However, I really wanted to see Diego/Thiago - it makes for a waaaaaaay better fight. As all of the regular reader’s know, I have hate Kos since TUF 1. Although, he has started to come around just a tiny bit (personality wise), but not really, he’s still a cocky punk that is still pretty 1 dimensional. Sure he came a long way since he days on TUF, but I couldn’t and still can’t stand Rogan hanging from Kos’s nuts like he is a case of recently contracted crabs. The first time Kos threw a kick, Rogan was like “He’s become so well rounded since his days on TUF. He is like a sponge - he just learns soooo quickly”. SHUT UP Already. His standup game consists of an overhand right and a roundhouse kick where he is 10 times more likey to fall on his own butt then send the opponent to the matt.
I sure hope that Thiago can stop the Kos takedown and give Kos the best KO since…, actually, I’ll be rooting for the best KO EVER. GSP vs Kos is NOT a fight that I am interested in seeing again. They might as well strap on the headgear and pull in a wresting matt.
Great POST VM!!!! Tru Story! Well rounded? what a joke!
No chance that Kos even attempts to stand with Alves, so expect a crappy fight! if there is a mma GOD, then Alves will be able to stop a few takedowns long enough to knock his head of and then mop the blood of the mat with his curly troll-doll-like hair!
Koschek and his hair stylist should be shot by a firing SQUAD!!!!!
if kos ruins this fight for me, I will be furious!
THIS BLOWS! alves vs. Sanchez was going to be awesome. Kos has the ability to make an Anderson Silva fight BORING!!!! WTF!!!!!!!!
Truth.
I wonder if the UFC is currently looking for someone to replace Kos it fight Zenko in case he gets suspended after the fight due to injury. That is less than month apart. KO’s have a minimum of a 30 day suspension if I’m not mistaken.
Someone above had mentioned that they should have found a better opponent, like Swick. Newflash: Swick is not better than Kos. Although, if Swick is not scheduled to fight, he would be a likely choice to fill in for Kos at the UFN for the troops.
Vm: I expect Fitch or Swick to step in and fill the void and fight Yoshida. I would prefer it be Swick, because it will be a much more competitive match up instead of Fitch.
The UFC could also just re-book Karo vs. Yoshida!
or they can even match up Yoshida with stun Gun
i thought swick was fighting goulet on the same card.
u r right, i forgot about swick vs. Goulet!
Koscheck — who is still scheduled to fight Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC Fight Night
and it still implies that kos will fight yoshida. if he gets injured or has suspensions, then have deigo fight yoshida. he’ll be left without a fight to finish of 2007. how did we forget about him through all this?
2008, i mean
I think the guys can get a doctor’s approval and get cleared to fight (we’re talking TKO’s with no cuts etc). The commission gives their minimums, but the fighters can be cleared sooner. Kos must have a subprime mortgage trying to fight twice in 30 days.
is it just me or is there at least two injuries to EVERY card the last half year or so?
Ken shamrock.
There’s always a lot of injuries, what’s cool about the UFC is there’s always someone good and in shape that steps in and keeps the anticipation going… UFC does what no other organization can do.
I agree Jody, Thiago is on a great role and so is Josh. His only loss in the last 2 and a half years is a Decision loss to GSP. Not bad. But Thiago is coming off a TKO win over Hughes and has TKO’ed better fighters than Josh. I think he will steam-role Josh. Nite-nite Josh.
What better fighters than Josh? The only WW that has proven to be better is GSP.Fitch might be better,but he sure didn’t KO him. I don’t think he will steam-role Josh, but if he does, I have to admit I’d be a little worried when he fights GSP. It will be a good fight and I think Josh will take it, but it won’t be easy.
HOW, oh HOW would Kos beat GSP??? What would his stategy be? He can’t take him down, he gets taken down at will, and his standup is light hears behind GSP’s.
Kos barely trained wrestling in preparation for that fight.He underestimated Georges’s wrestling,see the pre-fight smack talk.He still got up from 1 of gsp’s td’s and took him down in rd1.So to say that he can’t take Georges down is completely incorrect.I don’t think St.Pierre is necessarily a better wrestler,he just mixes it up better.That’s something that Josh needs to work on along with his standup which i agree is average at best.He needs to stop looking for that 1 big punch.
It was pretty clear though that Kos needs to be able to Take down GSP more than once or twice in order to get the win. GSP pretty much dominated Kos in the takedowns. Whether or not that was due to Kos not wrestling training remains to be seen, it certainly showed in their fight.
VM, who’s saying Kos would beat GSP? I’m talking about Alves if he steam-rolls Kos, GSP might have some competition.
Fitch is definitely better than Kos, but in Kos’s defense GSP has put much worse ass whoopin’s on guys. Kos got handled but he faired better than most.
who has he tkoed that is better then josh? dont say matt hughes.
I was thinking the same thing…… but 2 weeks notice? Still a great replacement but if Kos wins who wants to see GSP vs Kos 2?
I’d like to see it. Both guys have improved since then.
I’d like to see it. Serra upset aside, Kos put up the best fight against GSP in a long time. He didn’t just get mauled the entire fight like Fitch
chase would
I really hope alves knocks him out. not a tko, but a full blown body stiffening ko.
lmfao ….a full blown body stiffening ko….lol priceless man
I want him to get KO’d even worse than Jardine Style KO (that’s Jardine on the recieving end)
I want to see him shake and quiver all over the ground!
Hope Alves leaves Kos all stiff, Frankenstien style like Tank Abott!
I hope he’s okay and shit afterward, but I still want to see his punk ass twitching from a ko. all spastic with a leg in the air. I would cheer and I would laugh. I would then crack open a freah beer and enjoy the moment.
WTF!!!! Koscheck will get killed! Diego would of also so its cool!
i also heard diego was going to kill kos, i heard gsp was going to kill kos and all gsp did was lnp for the whole fight, i also heard lytle was going to kill kos.
no no no no nooooo!! WHAT! best fight of october is scratched! this sucks, oh well go koscheck i guess lol.
I agree, I was really looking forward to this one. Not a bad replacement though
I agree,not a bad one. So go Alves!
Koscheck is the best possible replacement, but it’s still disappointing. I think the Sanchez-Alvez fight was guaranteed to be exciting, but this has the potential to be boring if Kos takes him down and doesn’t do anything. I would have been cheering for Thiago before, and I still will because I think he would make for a more entertaining fight with GSP (or BJ, but I think GSP’s gonna win their fight).
Alves last two fights were pretty much replacements with this one. The Alves vs. Hughes fight was thrown together when Evans vs. Liddell got scrapped if im not mistaken.
Alves still by KO.
This is weak. There is a good fight scratched from almost every card now.
It’s like musical chairs
Wow. I was actually excited for the Alves and Sanchez fight, prolly because I like Diego and I wanted to see him beat Thiago. This fight doesn’t interest me that much.
WAR KOSCHECK !!!! KOSCHECK BY KNOCK THE FUCK OUT!!!!~!
Kos via brutal gnp!!!!
Koscheck will destroy him. This is terrible for Diego, this was his chance to break back into the top 5. Who’s he gonna fight now?
Mike Swick?
Or maybe he could take Koschecks place in the Yoshida fight.
How about a rematch with Karo?
swick has a fight against goulet and it says kos will still fight yoshida. i dont think a rematch with Karo makes any sense really. fitch should fight karo, reason being that karo is a top welterweight and a win over him is a big deal. deigo can have marcus davis after ufc 89. THAT fight would be pretty good. Marcus davis vs diego or fitch would be good.
How is this a more terrible matchup. Koscheck goes at a slower pace, has a questionable chin and crap standup. Better wrestler for sure but Alves has good enough guard game to tie him up long enough for standups.
questionable chin? the only time kos has every been rocked was when he caught that knee against fickett kos has a great chin.
And Alves hits way harder with punches, kicks, knees. Hazelett rocked him good also.
WHAT!!!!! DID HE GET SAND IN HIS VAGINA ha ha
suck my nutz!!!
as much as i hate sanchez it would have been a way better fight.
Too bad Sanchez got hurt, but this fight is still top quality. Good for Kos to step up and take the fight. Maybe they’ll both come in over weight now…
Ground-Game says…KOS by GNP!!!!
lay N pray!
He hasn’t LNP’d in years knock it off
how can anyone honestly think thiago cant make weight alves will beat koscheck whos only loss is to gsp via decision? kos is gonna steamroll his next 2 fights and fight gsp lose but hang with him again
Kos got knocked out bt Drew fickett in the ufc
No, he got submitted with a guillotine.
it was a rear naked choke, and he choked him unconscious. very different from a guillotine.
i kind of hope alves wins now. i don’t really want to see kos vs gsp 2, and alves vs gsp makes for an explosive fight. i would have really liked to see deigo vs gsp, but i guess that wont happen now.
Your right, been some time with sooo many fights in between…definitely not a KO by any means though. I am with you on that. KOS will never beat GSP because plain and simple he cannot out wrestle him. Alves vs. GSP is a much more interesting and what I think will be an entertaining fight.
Dirty Sanchez sure does seem to get an awful lot of injuries. Maybe he needs to practice gathering in the rain a little more often.
i dont see kos wining this on two weeks notice. if kos had a full 2 months to prepare i still think it would be a close fight with alves winning. too bad i was looking forward to a battle royal with alves and diego. now we get a battle royal with cheese instead.
Yeah, but its not like he hasn’t been doing anything the last couple months. He trains year around.
And he’s already in shape because he training for his fight next month. I give him props for being game.
THis stinks i hate kos crap and i’ve been hyped with the ariginal fight with the winner getting a shot at GSP
KOS cannot even come close with GSP.GSP gets better all the time and his mental part is improving as well Kos is nothing more than a wrestler with an overhand right.
Diego had one terrible fight due to staff and everyone ?’s the nightmare.
ps props to kos for stepping up. he is the man if he wins and deserves a title shot. anyone know what diego’s injury is?
i think it is kinda dick that if alves wins he gets a shot at the title but kos would have to beat alves and then fight yoshida in december and beat him.
Alves will be the underdog here. Koshchek’s wrestling is too good for alves and for those who dont believe me look what fitch did to alves…. Kos by ud.
This is difficult to call due to the short notice for Kos. I think it could go either way with a slight edge to Alves. I’ll take Kos by UD though.
SHITTTT! now they gotta change the poster and put koscheck on it
Screw it, just put a blond afro on Diego. Most ppl won’t even know the diff.
More like cut the end off a mop,lol.
No worries, the fliers are probably already printed and they won’t make any changes or reprint them. There were last minute changes made to the 87 card, but they didn’t change the flier.
lmao
YES!! JUSTICE FOR KOS!!! I agree with most of you, Kos win by brutal GnP.
Props to Kos. Will Alves make weight? I’ll take Kos by decision.
I think Thiago will still get a TKO. Kos will get frustrated taking him down. And i think he’ll get caught with a flying knee.
I say Kos takes this one, similarly to the Chris Lytle/Koscheck fight.
probably a pummelling accident
Alves is going to win this fight. Diego wants to take you down and pound you so Alves had to be working on a lot of sprawling. I see Koscheck being a more explosive and better stand up version of Matt Hughes right now. Alves vs. Koscheck is not going to be that great of a fight in my opinion, will go all three rounds with Alves winning Split Decision.
So that means:
Kos gets the win!
Thanks!
So that means:
Kos gets the win!
Thanks!
I THINK ALVES WILL KNOCK HIS SORRY ASS OUT! BUT THEN AGAIN, I WOULD LOVE TO SEE GSP HUMILIATE KOSCHECKS ASS AGAIN! LMAO…..
I’m hoping for Koscheck to win.. and that sometime we’ll see Kos vs Diego again..
yup same here. props for fighting anybody anytime too. just line ‘em up and bring all of them!
I wanted to see Diego against Thiago, but I am not disappointed with this match up either. Ought to be interesting.
this really sucks what else is next??
at least kos came in i wish it were still diego though but kos man i think he will lose as well
sanchez vs fitch 2 thats gonna be whats up
LAAAAAAMMMMMMMEEEEE!!!!!!!! I was looking forward to this fight more that the main event. I’m a big fan of Diego and this is very disappointing.
man, I do not like either one of these guy’s styles. They are both good, but I would rather see Diego out there.
THIS IS AMAZING NEWS! I love Koscheck, and I think he has a ton of talent. This is really going to be a great fight. I can’t wait!
Damn. Damn damn damn. I just went to rooting hard core against Thiago to rooting hard core for Thiago. The last thing I want to see is GSP fighting another wrestiling specialist - he has already proved that type of fighter has no shot against him. Hopefully Alves wins and fights GSP, Diego fights Yoshida or Swick and still has a title shot later next year.
W A R ~ K O S C H E C K
Alves via Muay Thai and HGH
Things is, Alves was already preparing for a GnP guy, (I know Kos wrestling is better than Sanchez) but do you think Kos will be ready for this kind of striker? I want to see Alves win, GSP vs Kos 2 would suck in my opinion…
alves by tko in the 3rd
i want to see Alves cause ‘full blown body stiffening’ WITH un-controllable moaning/ … THEN Alves does the same thing to Sanchez … THEN GSP kicks Alves ass… woo hoo !
THIS card STINKS!!!!!
I DON’t want to see these fights and the main event is the only good one
IMO Alves is the only person in the division that can beat GSP right now. Styles make fights and niether Diego or Kos can out wrestle GSP. The only way anyone will beat him is to KO him like Serra did. Lucky punch or not that is the way to do it.
As for this fight. Diego or Kos would have been KO’d by Alves. As long as he can make wieght he is on his way to a title shot.
Diego has never been close to being knocked out, and I do not think Alves would be the first one. Diegos pace would have been too much for Alves, Diego would have either got a descision or pounded him out from the mount. I do hope we see Alves knock out that arrogant prick Koscheck though. Sorry Chase.
Anyone notice Alves’ tattoo?? It says Pit Bull backwards.
Alot of ignorant people here KOSCHECK by KTFO for sure, he will beat Thiago senseless this will be a referee stoppage, mark my words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The UFC will take an initial hit on this since Diego has dropped out, the majority of fans want to see Diego fight. However, Koscheck is a solid fighter who should give Alves a run for his money and has a solid chance at taking this fight. The only thing that stands in his way will be his conditioning and if he is actually in fight mode taking this fight with so little time to prepare. Good oportunity to step up and get a big win.
Two crappy fighters going to war.
thatta boy Kos, way to step up brother.
Do you think that by the time Diego gets better they will make Diego vs Fitch 2?
Koscheck by TRIPLE GAINER FLYING ARM BAR!
“but won over a legion of new fans”
well that’s just a flat out lie.
I think that half of you people that posted to this have no fucking clue what your talking about. This is the best fight. Kos and Alves match up so good togeather. Your all saying that both of these guys are 1 way fighters. Alves is a blue belt in BJJ and kos can knock you out quick…You guys need to learn your facts before you talk shit about these to fighters. These are my fav 2 fighters. Get your shit straight. I’m going to say it’s Kos by decision. Is going to be a great fucking fight though.
I think Alves will not make weight. That dude is juiced up. He’s walking around at 200+lbs. He’s has also been known to cheat by using diuretics.