2007 won’t go down in Josh Koscheck’s history book as one of his favorites. Sure, there was the decision loss to Georges St-Pierre (no shame there), but there was also a victory over Diego Sanchez, so fighters have had worse 12 month periods. Yet as far as he’s concerned, what made Koscheck describe himself as being “the most miserable human being on the face of the Earth,” in 2007 wasn’t the quality of his fights, but the quantity.
But in 2008, he has no such complaints.
“Now I’m happy,” said Koscheck. “I told my management that I want to fight more. I want to fight as much as possible, and this year has been great because this is my fourth fight. It means I’m making money, and I’m happy.”
But this refreshing attitude has done more than just pad Koscheck’s bank account. By fighting so often against top-notch opposition – especially when he stepped in on short notice to take on Thiago Alves in October even though he already had a fight scheduled a month and a half later with Yoshiyuki Yoshida – Koscheck has turned from the guy fans loved to boo to a fan favorite who actually hears cheers now when his name is announced.
“It’s been a good reaction,” said Koscheck. “I think the fans are starting to appreciate the fact that I am a true fighter and it just took me some to get around to that.”
When you ask the 31-year old Pennsylvania native about being the favorite now as opposed to the one in the black hat, he seems almost embarrassed about it. Maybe it’s because he was always comfortable in the role of villain when it came to fan reaction. But regardless of the past, he’d better get used to the cheers now, and it appears that he has.
“They love you even more after they’ve hated you, so if you can make someone hate you and then fall in love with you, you’ve got a hook for life,” he said. “I look at it as a relationship. These fans might not like me, and I may not get every fan to like me, but I can’t control that. All I can control is winning and losing and training my butt off so I don’t have any lapses like the last fight (against Alves). I’m not concerned with being the good guy or the bad guy – I just want to win fights, because at the end of the day, that’s what it’s about. I’m an entertainer, but I’m also a fighter. I like to entertain people and I want them to get their money’s worth. What the hell is this crazy kid gonna do next? What is he gonna say next? And that’s the way I live. You gotta live on the edge and you’ve got to live life to the fullest.”
That’s what he’s been doing, making sure that his fighting prime is not spent on the sidelines, but in the Octagon, where he has compiled a 9-3 record since entering the UFC in 2005 after his stay on The Ultimate Fighter. This year alone has seen him defeat Dustin Hazelett and Chris Lytle, with the only defeat coming via decision in a gutsy effort against Alves. And he isn’t getting any holiday season favors in Japan’s Yoshiyuki Yoshida, who he takes on tonight at the Crown Coliseum in North Carolina.
“My coaches have looked at footage on him (Yoshida) and things like that,” said Koscheck. “I’m not one to study fighters and their gameplans and what they do well and what they don’t do well because they can improve and change those things. I look at myself in my career and once I was only a wrestler. Now I can kick, I can strike, and I have jiu-jitsu. But I know he’s a well-rounded fighter, he comes to fight, and I’ve got to be prepared to fight him standing, on the ground, in the clinch, with judo, wrestling – in every aspect of the game. If I’m lacking in one area, it could be in an area he’s good at, and he could exploit me and get the win, so I’m just trying to focus on fighting him in every area and in every aspect of the game.”
And as far as training is concerned, it was pretty much business as usual for Koscheck at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, despite what has almost been six months worth of constant training.
“The only thing I did after the Alves fight was take a couple days off,” he said. “I went on vacation for three days just to get away and lay on the beach. I came back to San Jose on the Wednesday after (the Alves fight on October 25th), started training, and the only thing I changed during training camp for this fight was that I took a couple of days off here and there more than I usually would. I had already been in the gym training hard, and I didn’t want my body to get too beat up to where I couldn’t be in the gym. Other than that, it’s business for me. This will be my fourth fight this year against top level competition – Chris Lytle’s no slouch, Yoshida’s no slouch and neither was Alves. Hazelett’s been on a tear too and I’m glad I got to fight him early because he’s kicking everybody’s ass now. But I’m here to fight the best guys, and I don’t care if it’s one after another, week after week, I’ll step up and I’ll fight ‘em.”
What a difference a year makes. And Josh Koscheck loves it.
“I’m gonna put on a show December 10th,” he said. “It’s gonna be a show that the UFC and these troops are gonna remember forever because I’m in great shape, I’m coming to fight, and I’m coming to win.”
UFC Fight for The Troops airs on Spike TV on Wednesday, December 10th at 9pm ET / PT. To donate to the Fallen Heroes Fund, click here.
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