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By: Maynard Sweeney, MMATorch Contributor This article is the twenty-fifth in a series of daily releases counting down the top thirty fights of 2008. We will release a new article each day starting from #30 all the way up until the end of the month.
Top 30 Fights of 2008: #6
Josh "Kos" Koscheck vs. Yoshiyuki "Zenko" Yoshida
UFC: Fight for the Troops - 12/10/2008
Josh Koscheck is arguably the most improved fighter to hail out of the now infamous Ultimate Fighter house. Sure, Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin have been and have become champions since their stints on the show, and few others have challenged for titles, but none have evolved as much as Koscheck.
At the end of the inaugural season of the Ultimate Fighter, Kos was for the most part a very one dimensional, limited wrestler. Don't be fooled, he was a highly skilled and highly decorated wrestler, but primarily a wrestler nonetheless. He was content with grinding out decisions, ripping people down to the canvas with his incredible shoot and holding them there, helpless until the bell rang.
Times have changed, however. The Josh Koscheck of old has passed away with the times, and we've seen the incredible adaptation of an ambitious, young fighter to the sport of mixed martial arts. Fans have been lucky enough to watch the development of a young martial artist into a highly skilled modern MMA competitor.
At UFC: Fight for the Troops, the culmination of three years worth of training and fighting were put on display, as we saw the best, most mature Josh Koscheck to date. After years of sub-par striking and three round lay and pray bouts, Kos rose to the occasion and produced what was probably the most brutal knockout of 2008.
The highly touted Yoshiyuki Yoshida, hailing from the land of the rising sun, seemed to be a game opponent for the former TUF middleweight contender, now long settled into the 170 pound division. This probably would have been true a couple of fights ago, when Kos's striking wasn't nearly as crisp. Instead of the competitive, back and forth fight that fans and pundits expected, we were awarded a surprising and violent knockout.
Only 2:15 into the opening round, Kos caught Yoshida with a straight left hand, leaving the Japanese fighter out cold on his feet. However, it didn't end there. Instead of crumbling to the canvas, like he should have, Yoshida stumbled back and hit the cage fence. Because of this unlucky maneuver, he bounced forward, still unconscious, toward Koscheck. The AKA fighter capitalized, and caught an already out cold Yoshida with a brutal hook across the jaw, flooring the now demolished Japanese martial artist.
Compare this amazing display of improved striking prowess to Kos's last successful attempt at adhering to a mostly standing game plan, when he stood with then undefeated and at the time, apparent heir to the welterweight title: Diego Sanchez. Kos won a convincing decision, but not before boring fans to death with three rounds of patty cake. The skills used were impressive regardless of their aesthetic appeal, but hardly anywhere near what we saw at Fight for the Troops.
After a night of unusually violent stoppages, complete with broken legs, dislocated arms, and old school Wanderlei Silva-style clinch stoppages, Koscheck topped off the evening with the rearrangement of his opponent's jaw line. It really was an exciting event for regular MMA fans, as we've all more or less been able to grow with the younger fighters of the sport. Josh was no exception, and his KO of Yoshida was truly an exciting chapter in the young fighter's history. I can't wait to see what's next.
Stay tuned for #5 of the MMATorch Top 30 Fights of 2008, which will be revealed with a full article later.
[Koscheck Art Credit - Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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