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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
During the first round of the UFC 113 bout between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley at UFC 113, fans and media alike harped on Koscheck for what appeared to be a massively overacted reaction to an illegal knee thrown by Daley.
The replay that was shown over and over, in the arena and on the pay-per-view broadcast, showed the left knee thrown by Daley that maybe scraped Koscheck's hair. The reaction from Koscheck didn't seem to go hand in hand with what was being shown on the screen, and thus all were decrying Koscheck for trying to fake that the blow hit to perhaps get a point taken or simply to get some rest time, which he received.
Well, there's another replay of the sequence circulating that shows that Koscheck did, in fact, get ht with an illegal knee by Daley, it just wasn't the one that was being shown over and over again. Take a look at the .gif image below with the entire sequence slowed down.
Now, if you look closely, as referee Dan Miragliotta is stepping out of view, the right knee of Daley comes up and jars Koscheck's head back, and then he tries to throw a second knee, that being the one that completely missed. It even appears that the second knee misses because Koscheck is turning to make a complaint to Miragliotta.
Koscheck never backed off from his side of the story in interviews after the fight, swearing he got hit by something, and this look shows he was right. It was one of several instances in this fight, and after, in which Daley employed unsportsmanlike conduct, ending with the sucker punch after the fight that sent him out of the organization.
Penick's Analysis: As one of the people who was vociferously against Koscheck's reaction and behavior while watching the fight and then in comments afterward, I have no problem admitting I was wrong and making apologies to Koscheck for not giving him the benefit of the doubt in this case. While he's not a likable character, the fact is it was Paul Daley who threw two illegal knees here, tried to gouge his eyes in the third round and then hit him with a sucker punch after the bell.
It only drives home that Daley's release and subsequent banishment from the UFC was likely the correct call, even when made in the heat of the moment. As for the knee issue, because of how quickly this sequence happened and the fact that the wrong replay was being shown, Koscheck got a raw deal on fan and media reaction to that part of the fight. Still, he won and is now set up for the biggest fight of his career against Georges St. Pierre, likely in December.
RELATED STORY: UFC 113 RESULTS: Paul Daley cut following cheap shot of Josh Koscheck at UFC 113 (w/Penick's Analysis): [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
[Josh Koscheck art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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