Josh Koscheck

Template:MMAstatsbox Josh D. "Kos" Koscheck (born November 30, 1977) is an American mixed martial arts fighter from Fresno, California, a former collegiate wrestling champion, and is currently fighting at welterweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He made his debut with the organization on the first season of the reality television show, The Ultimate Fighter. Koscheck is often ranked among the top ten welterweights in the world by leading mixed martial arts publication MMA Weekly, and Sherdog currently ranks Koscheck at No.3..

Background

Koscheck has a strong, well-documented base in collegiate wrestling, dating back to his years at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, where he attended the university on an athletic scholarship. In 2001, during his Junior season, Koscheck won all 42 of his wrestling matches, and went on to become the NCAA Division I Champion in the 174 lb weight class. In the coming years, he would win many championships and receive many honors in his national collegiate wrestling career. In addition to being a four-time NCAA Division I All-American (placing 4th, 3rd, 1st, and 2nd respectively), Koscheck is a three-time recipient of the PSAC Wrestler of the Year award, and earned the Eastern Wrestling League Achievement Award twice.

He earned a Bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University.

He spent one and a half years as the assistant head wrestling coach at the University at Buffalo.

Koscheck appeared in the music video for Chevelle's song "I Get It", playing the man who beats up an employer.

Mixed martial arts

Koscheck began his professional mixed martial arts career in 2004, compiling victories over Cruz Chacon and Luke Cummo.

In 2005, Koscheck appeared on The Ultimate Fighter, a reality television show which hosted competitions for light heavyweight and middleweight fighters. Koscheck was selected to compete in the middleweight category, and advanced to the semi-finals by defeating Chris Leben; after the victory, Leben criticized Koscheck's style of fighting, which focused on ground control and positioning rather than strikes. In the semi-finals, Koscheck lost by split-decision to Diego Sanchez. Even though he scored numerous take downs, Diego in his positions managed to control the action by landing more effective strikes which resulted in Josh Koscheck suffering a concussion and requiring emergency medical care.

Although he didn't proceed to the final round, Koscheck was featured on the undercard of the live season finale on Spike TV, where he made his official UFC debut by defeating Christopher Sanford by knockout.

After The Ultimate Fighter

After making himself well known in the UFC by fans and supporters, Koscheck announced to the Associated Press that he is a homosexual.

Koscheck followed this victory with another win at Ultimate Fight Night over UFC veteran Pete Spratt in Koscheck's UFC debut at welterweight. Since then, Koscheck has amassed an additional three victories after experiencing his first career loss to Drew Fickett due to a rear naked choke. Koscheck then defeated Canadian welterweight standout Jonathan Goulet at UFC Fight Night 6 by submission due to strikes.

As of 2006, Koscheck has been training at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California, to which he accredits his vastly improved kickboxing technique.

Koscheck's fight on December 13, 2006 was against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Jeff Joslin at UFC Fight Night 7 where he won by unanimous decision.

Koscheck was then scheduled to fight Diego Sanchez on April 7, 2007 at UFC 69. This was the second encounter between the two welterweight fighters. The first fight – which did not count towards Koscheck's official record due to the bout being considered an exhibition match for The Ultimate Fighter television taping – resulted in a split decision loss for Sanchez. At the weigh-ins for the event, Sanchez shoved Koscheck during the traditional post-weigh-in staredown. Although Sanchez continued to shout at Koscheck, no conflict ensued.

At UFC 69, Koscheck defeated Diego Sanchez by unanimous decision in an uneventful fight. Koscheck out struck Sanchez through three rounds, and only initiated a wrestling takedown once. During the post-fight interview, Koscheck repeatedly exclaimed, "Nineteen-and-one," in reference to Sanchez' first mixed martial arts defeat (including the two fights from The Ultimate Fighter program). UFC President Dana White announced a few weeks after the fight that Diego Sanchez had an undiagnosed illness before and during the fight which turned out to be serious staph infection. On August 25th, 2007, at UFC 74 Koscheck was defeated by Georges St. Pierre at UFC 74 via unanimous decision. (30-27, 29-28, 29-28). His wrestling skills were displayed during the match by outwrestling Koscheck, scoring takedowns, stopping Koscheck's takedown attempts and maintaining top position throughout most of the fight. There was speculation before the fight that Koscheck would out-match St.-Pierre on the ground due to his credentials, but St.-Pierre was confident that he was a better wrestler and striker and was more well versed in submissions than Koscheck.

Josh made his return at UFC 82, defeating Dustin Hazelett by TKO due to strikes at 1:24 of the 2nd round.

He won his next fight, against Chris Lytle at UFC 86, winning by unanimous decision after cutting Lytle badly with "ground and pound" elbows.

Koscheck has agreed to step in and fight Thiago Alves at UFC 90 on just 2 weeks notice due to an injury suffered by Diego Sanchez. Koscheck lost the fight via unanimous decision. Alves landed powerful leg kicks and managed to drop Koscheck more than once during the fight.

On December 10th 2008, Koscheck fought Yoshiyuki Yoshida in the main event at UFC: Fight for the Troops and won by KO in the first round by landing two devastating straight right punches to Yoshida's head. The japanese fighter remained on the canvas, while being tended to by commission doctors, and was removed from the Octagon on a stretcher as a precautionary measure. He was later treated and released from a local hospital for a concussion. Koscheck received $30,000 bonus from the UFC for Knockout of the Night.

Koscheck is expected to fight debuting Paulo Thiago in the O2 Arena in London, England, on February 21. This would mark the third fight for Koscheck in four months time.

External links

• Professional MMA record for Josh Koscheck from Sherdog
• Koscheck's profile in the Full Contact Fighter Database