As MMAmania.com first reported over the weekend, top welterweight contender Josh Koscheck is expected to return to action at UFC 95 card, which is slated for The O2 Arena in London, England, on February 21.
We can now confirm that he is expected to welcome undefeated Brazilian up-and-comer, Paulo Thiago (7-0), to the Octagon for the first time ever. It’s important to note that bout agreements have been distributed but are still unsigned.
Koscheck most recently annihilated the very dangerous Japanese fighter, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, at UFC Fight Night 16: “Fight for the Troops” with a scary-looking two-punch knockout on December 10. He defeated “Zenko” just six weeks after losing to number one division contender Thiago Alves at UFC 90 via unanimous decision back on October 25.
He took the fight against the bruising Brazilian on less than 14 days notice to replace an injured Diego Sanchez. It didn’t go his way, but it’s hard to hold it against him.
The former contestant on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) has won three of his last four fights — he knocked off Dustin Hazelett and Chris Lytle before the Alves loss — and appears that he is willing to do whatever it takes — and fight as often as possible — to get back in the 170-pound title chase.
But he’ll have to do it against an opponent who is not well-known in the United States.
Thiago has competed primarily in his native Brazil, posting a four-fight win streak for the Jungle Fight promotion last year. He most recently stopped Luis Dutra Jr. via technical knockout (strikes) in round one of their bout in September 2008.
He’ll be thrown right into the deepend against Koscheck. It also appears to be a fight for Koscheck without much upside … unless of course he scores another sensational knockout on cable television in front of millions watching across the nation at home.
We shall see soon enough.
UFC 95 features the highly anticipated lightweight debut of Diego Sanchez against Joe Stevenson in the main event of the evening. Middleweights Nate Marquardt and Wilson Gouveia, as well as Demian Maia and Chael Sonnen, are also expected to mix it up in two very important division clashes.
To check out the latest UFC 95 fight card and rumors click here.
69 Comments »
Whoa, an awesome combo just popped into my mind.. a Fighter with the ground skill of Fihlo and the stand up of Alves.. I had to read that twice cause I thought the name was a typo at first
i was thinking the same thing!!
I like this idea. How about the ground skills of Toquino and the stand up of Anderson Silva? Any other combos?
A 155er with the body of Corey Hill, the Stand up of Anderson Silva, Bj Penn Jits/flexibility, Randy Couture Clinch, wrestling of Sean Sherk and the heart/durability and aggresivnes of Wanderlei Silva.
a 155er???
And I’ll even add to that list the Judo of Karo Parysian.
Yes, thats my custom made 155 lbs fighter, I call him the T-1000.
I say the body of Bob Sapp and the flight of Kalib Starnes.
the cardio of sean sherk the stand up of anderson silva the athleticism of gsp the ground game of fedor the chin of chris leben and the heart of wanderlei
the standup of Anderson.S the wrestling of GSP the heart of Roger Huerta the chin of Diego Sanchez and the jits of D.Maia and the charisma of Tito Ortiz.
The Charisma of Tito Ortiz?? You’ve created an abomination…
K I got another one, a 205 lbs fighter with the Giant Head of Ortiz, the manager of Fedor, the excuses of Karo Parysian, the ring entrance of Phil Baroni, the arrogance of Frank Shamrock, the moustache of Don Frye and the back peddling speed of Kalib Starnes.
LMAO!!
O Damn/caught, I think you’re own your way to something special there. Why don’t we add the maturity of Junie and the driving of Rampage, the unibrow of Luke Cummo (sp?), and the tits of Gina Carano…..we’re almost there.
lmao. that was some funny stuff.
Kos wants a title shot bad, if he wins give it to him.. i don’t really like him but then again who fights 4-5 times in a year n a half… Kos is crazy and i’m leaning toward him cause he will be a champ some day, even if it isn’t in the ufc..
should I know this guy?
Kos is ranked in the top 5 in the world, yet they give him a few bums as of late! I give him all the credit in the world for staying active, but come on!
carlos condit or Karo were the 2 best suggestions I heard. What does he gain (besides a paycheck) with a win?
If he loses, he loses credibility, and for what? no upside!
agreed 100%~ what is going on with kos and the ufc..
first they love him
then they hate him
and now they are back to loving him..
shields or diaz would be good too!
lunch this week stink?
ever play cards in hayward?
THis fight is STUPID! i hope Kos’s people know who this kid is because those no name fighters are dangerous at times. Hope Kos gets some good footage on this guy….I would hate to see Kos get embarrassed by a name name guy! Aw Who am I kidding, I would LOVE NOTHING MORE!!!!
“highly anticipated lightweight debut of Diego Sanchez against Joe Stevenson” highly anticipated by who?
I would love to see Kos lose as well, and i just watched some clips of him fighting, i think kos will either KO or GnP him out. I could be wrong but the guy has good jits and really likes the RNC with the body triangle. Also i dont know what weight he was fighting in the clips but if it was WW he looked like he could easily drop to LW. If nothing else it could be a good sub or ko. If UFC plans to cut Kos due to the video game thing this could be a way to say F U to him by giving him a no name cuz i think someone said that it was his last fight of the contract. right?
thanks for the intel, and yes this is the last fight on Koscheks contract. U bring up a good point, this might be the UFC’s way of telling him to F off, like they did to Arlovski against O’brien. Or it could just be as simple as no one left for him to fight, everyone booked already. If this fight gets televised then I think the UFC will re sign him, if not, he is as good as gone!
agreed 100%
I’m highly anticipating Diego’s debut at 155. Joe Daddy can go put a guillotine choke on his cock for all I care, but Diego is one of my faves.
Diego is a weird fuck who hasn’t been the same since his rematch with Koscheck which was his first loss. Stevenson takes this!
i think jake shields should be best option to fight kos
Jake Shields and Kosheck come from the same camp so i doubt if they will fight each other
they do? since when?
shields is a caesar gracie guy and now has his own gym in Berkley!! Kos is at AKA with fitch. I believe shields has trained with them before, but by no means are they in the “same camp.” Shields is with the Diaz boys, dave terell and melendez!
Yeah, get with it, Son!!!
wasnt shields with aka briefly back when he won rotr 9? i could have sworn i heard baroni say that when he was comentating the shields okami fight that night.
yes, u was training at aka at the time because I remember Baroni saying something about that as well.
i wonder what jakes thoughts are on the aka guys and the reason for him leaving?
id rather see jake shields, nick diaz or carlos condit fight (and beat) kos out of the top ten. i hate kos. all three of those guys better get signed this year! 170 would get alot more interesting thats for sure!
I agree! my cousin in law saw the diaz boys training last week. Both were training hard too! Nate has the fight with guida coming up, but he said Nick wasn’t just training, he was training for something. It was at the gym doing cardio, he sees them all the time, and has boxed with them in the past, so he knows hard training vs. regular training! I posted this over the weekend, but some of you don’t come on, so I’ll post it again!
i predict nick to fight sakurai in japan before he moves back to the ufc and i think jake will fight karo or someone of that caliber in the next few months. i know they are from the same camp but it would be epic for nick and jake to fight somewhere down the line!
kevin~ u just said it.
nate is training for a fight..nick is just helping.
nick is always training hard[and i mean hard] everyday!
u should go down to the gym youself.. he is always there.
i havnt seen any change in his training.
elitexc is holding my homies down~ right now.
I’m not driving 90 minutes to work out stink! I could go train in stockton anytime, but there are a few gracie gyms in the bay! My son actually wants to start, he’s got a good base right now, and has slipped a few arm bars on me, most assisted, but a few surprises! He also got me in an oma plata yesterday, I didn’t even teach it, he said he saw it on unleashed! lol, kids!
too bad elitexc is holding my boy shields down..
boy do i know some interesting news about my homeboys from
the gracie camp~
u guys will be hearing about nick and jake soon enough.
hopefully good news.lol
thats what I was getting at stink! My cousin in law does cardio at the same 24 hour fitness that they work out at. He’s also boxed with Nick in the past, but now they aren’t friends or nothing! He claims Nick won’t box him…I just laugh at him!
whats his name?
next time u see him~ ask him if he knows or has heard of
smooth ricky dooby~ from stckton.
albert avina
how old are you stinky?
he used to be “big time” if you know what I mean, he’s my age (32)
i turn 25 next month..
i dont know too many of the older guys around stockton.
but i can tell u i dont associate with drug dealers. lol.
too many of those dildos ruined my friends life.
dang i got the mod agian~
almost 25 kev
oh ok, you’re younger than him, but might know him!??
he’s a family man now stink, back 10-12 years ago is when he did that stuff! weed mostly!
Kos is really putting it all on the line here imo, there’s always an “x” factor when fighting an unknown. There’s always the possible Santos over Werdum, Alexander over Jardine type of outcome. Nothing to gain and everything to lose, I’m sure Kos wasn’t calling this guy out or asking for this fight, just goes to show whatever the UFC puts in front of the guy he’ll take it. I’m starting to gain some respect for Kos.
I liked the comment…it was better the first time, when I said it. Thats my favorite line from around the horn,. just kidding ODHGC!
Your breakin my balls here Kevin, your breakin my balls..
lol, next time just cut and paste my comment, it will save you time! lmao
I felt it needed to be reposted in a positive light =P
lol
I wonder if he will ever get a title shot by beating a bunch of non-contenders?
i hope not!
Like his teammate Jon Fitch.
lol, exactly what I was thinking!
Good lord Joe Silva, c’mon man. Paulo Thiago? Give Kos a friggin’ contender already. This is pure weaksauce.
All of the contenders he trains with, this is why he doesnt get a top teir guy. Swick and Fitch
In my opinion, the UFC should have offered him a fight with swick, if he said no thanks, they fire him! all this not fighting with the circle jerk they call AKA is getting a little weak!
Found this higlight video of Paulo Thiago on Youtube:-
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ekuQwnw0-HM
on that link it says he’s from BOPE, which is the brazilian version of SWAT, pretty cool.
he looks like he likes that arm triangle! crappy striker though.
Oh boy, just what we needed. Another Thiago in the UFC…
hey, at least it’s not another silva, right? lol
true that…;)
WAR KOS, dude is a badass always taking fights whenever they need him. i wanna see another ko
Big news- Dustin Hazelett is going to fight Ben Saunders at UFC 96. This is a great fight between talented up and commers. I’m expecting Hazelett to win, but this should be a great fight. I like both of these guys.
KOS vs KAMPMAN
I read he’s 10-0 and has a championship conquest.
http://www.intheguard.tv/portal/?channel=2§ion=1&action=1&id=483
Josh Koscheck takes undefeated new comer at UFC 95
06.01.2009 12:40 | MMA related | by Martins Denis (denis@intheguard.com.br)
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12345The site Brasil Combate was the force that informed that Paulo Thiago of the Constrictor Team will debut in the UFC against Josh Koscheck. The contract was signed Sunday, January 4th, for one fight in the UFC 95 on the 21st of February in London, England.
“We are very happy with the opportunity and know the difficulty of getting there and maintaining ourselves in a top event. The contract is open and, the first look, everything depends on the action of Thiago against Koscheck to move forward in the UFC.” Commented Ataíder Jr. , leader of the team.
Paulo best known in Brazil for his four showings in the Jungle FC, possesses a record of 10-0 in MMA and besides the fights in Wallid Ismail’s event, he has also participated in Capital Fight, Storm Samurai, Conquista Fight and in the Planaltina GP of 2006, when he had three fights in the same night. Professor Ataide showed confidence about the toughness of the first fight in the organization.
“The guy is a member of the Special Police Commandos here in Brasilia, no one is ever going to put him through what he went through in the tests to get into the unit. I know that Koscheck is tough but so is Thiago. We have a very structured team here, where high caliber athletes such as Rani Yahya take part. He will be very prepared, you can be sure of that.” The leader of the Constrictor Team finished. He will embark for Europe with his pupil on the 16 of Feburary.