...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Longtime UFC welterweight and one-time Title challenger Josh Koscheck is eying a return to the cage in early 2013. Koscheck lost a split decision against Johny Hendricks at UFC on Fox 3 in May, and was set to return at UFC 151 in September before a bulging disc in his back took him out of a bout against Jake Ellenberger.
Healing up and ready to return, Koscheck says the UFC doesn't have an opening for him until early next year. That said, he's got no shortage of options and ideas for a return fight when he does come back.
"Doesn't look like the UFC has a fight for me until 2013," Koscheck said in an interview with MMAWeekly.com. "So I'll just train and get better."
"I'd like to fight Nick [Diaz], Demian Maia, Jake Ellenberger, Rory MacDonald, any of those guys will do it. They know I'll fight anyone. I even said I'd fight at 185 if needed."
Penick's Analysis: I'd be highly intrigued by all of those matchups. Even though Koscheck-Ellenberger shouldn't have been a pay-per-view co-main event as it was scheduled, it was always an interesting matchup. Koscheck against Diaz or Maia or MacDonald would also all be really interesting matchups. There are wrinkles in the games and skill sets of all of those fighters that make matchups between any of them hard to predict. They're all at least passable strikers with very solid ground games, and all are capable of hanging in a fight with anyone. I'd be really interested in a Diaz-Koscheck bout, but at this stage it would require Koscheck holding out until late in February, as Diaz remains under suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission past the UFC's Super Bowl weekend event.
[Josh Koscheck art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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