In a blog for Sportsnet.ca, UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck talked about why he wanted to make a cameo at middleweight before fighting again at his conventional weight of 170 pounds.
Kos has not fought at 185 since knocking out Pete Spratt in August of 2005.
However, the former four-time All American Division I wrestler said he wanted to make the move to middleweight because every welterweight “who meant anything” had already been booked to fight.
He went on to clarify by saying:
“The people the UFC wanted me to fight just didn’t interest me at all,” Koscheck explained. “The names they offered me were just “paydays” … I don’t want to fight those guys.”
The American Kickboxing Academy standout indicated that, prior to him replacing Diego Sanchez to take on Matt Hughes at UFC 135, a one-shot deal at middleweight was the only move that made sense.
“I needed to come back and remind everyone what I am all about and if I couldn’t do that at 170 pounds, I figured maybe, as a one-off just to have a major fight to come back with, I’d take a fight at 185 pounds,” Koscheck said.
“Realistically, I asked to fight Wanderlei Silva, Chris Leben and even Rich Franklin at 185.”
As far as the fight with Hughes, one of the all time greats in the sport, is concerned, it is not all that shocking to see Koscheck talking some trash with the fight less than two weeks away.
Koscheck claims that Hughes has ducked him in the past, and he wouldn’t have been surprised to see it happen again here.
“I’ve called out Hughes for so long but he’s always avoided me,” Koscheck said. “Like I knew he would, he tried to suggest fighting Jon Fitch instead, knowing full well Fitch is still recovering from shoulder surgery.”
“I tweeted that I’d accepted the fight and was ready, just to put pressure on Hughes to quit [expletive] and take the fight. I wanted to make it so that if he did turn the fight down, all the fans would know that he [expletive] out.”
Koscheck has been out of action since UFC 124 this past December, where he fought welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre for a second time.
Once again, GSP won convincingly and broke the perennial contender’s orbital bone in the process.
Despite the set back, Koscheck will be at 100 percent when he takes on Hughes at UFC 135 on September 24, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com
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