UFC 82: Koscheck, Fitch Added to Lineup
Welterweights Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch will both return at UFC 82 in Columbus, Ohio according to MMA Junkie.
Both fighters train with the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California but have strong ties to the Ohio Valley region. Koscheck was born in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania before venturing to northern Pennsylvania to wrestle at Division I Edinboro University where he was a four-time all american. Fitch was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana and wrestled at Purdue where he was a 4-year letterman and captain.
According to the report no opponents have been determined for the bouts.
Koscheck (9-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) appeared on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter losing in the semi-finals to Diego Sanchez. “Kos” has posted UFC victories over Chris Sanford, Pete Spratt, Ansar Chalangov, Dave Menne, Jonathan Goulet, Jeff Joslin, and Diego Sanchez. His two UFC losses came against Drew Fickett and Georges St. Pierre. His last fight, a loss to St. Pierre, was a top-contender bout in August at UFC 74. The win earned St. Pierre a title shot in early-2008 while the loss moved Koscheck back in pack of title contenders behind the likes of Fitch and Karo Parisyan.
Fitch (15-2-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) remains a relatively unknown fighter despite having one of the most impressive resumes in the welterweight division. After a 1-2 start to his career Fitch has rebounded in the biggest way winning 14-straight fights including all 7 of his UFC bouts. Fitch debuted in the UFC in late-2005 and hasn’t looked back since winning bouts over Brock Larson, Josh Burkman, Thiago Alves, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, Luigi Fioravanti, Roan Carneiro, and Diego Sanchez.
For more UFC 82 check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.
Tags: Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck
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I would love to watch these 2 fight eachother. Isn’t that the next step for both of them. I hope so. Fitch would MOSH Kos.
I read that Fitch was offered a fight against Akihiro Gono but asked to fight Parisyan. I’d like to see Fitch/Parisyan as a sorta #2 contender match. GSP gets the winner of Serra/Hughes and then the winner of Fitch/Parisyan gets the winner of that.
After losing to GSP I think Kos needs another win before he’s in line for the #1 contender spot. He didn’t look great against GSP or Sanchez, even though he beat Sanchez.
This is a great matchup. Fitch has fought 2nd and 3rd Tier competition in the UFC (I don’t consider Alves & Sanchez top tier at this time). This is an excellent opportunity for both and I’d put the winner ahead of Parisyan.
The way I’d like to see things develop is Serra vs Hughes, GSP vs winner…Fitch vs Koscheck, Parisyan vs winner…Then the survivors from Serra/Hughes/GSP vs survivor from Koscheck/Fitch/Parisyan.
Hope that isn’t too confusing.
after gsp it’s fitch, parisyan, koschek, sanchez, davis, alves. these guys are all top tier. there is no way there’s only 5-6 top tier ww’s in the ufc. i’d like to see serra beat sanchez,davis or alvez because i know he can’t beat fitch, koschek and obviously parisyan. although he did beat gsp so he does deserve to be in top 2 or 3 ww’s even though he had a much easier road to a title shot then gsp, fitch, parisyan. don’t only remember the the last fight or two remember the last year or two.
GIP – In my opinion, you have Serra, GSP & Hughes, then there is a drop off to Koscheck, Parisyan and Fitch. From there I would group Burkman, Davis, Alves and Sanchez. I do believe Serra to be an anomaly but he has a chance to be the only one to defeat both Hughes and GSP. There is a wealth of depth and I do believe Fitch to leap ahead of the group you mentioned in 2008.
The other problem with guesstimating where Serra falls into the ranks (taking his title out of the equation) is difficult, since he’s only had 1 fight on record each of the past 2 years. I wouldn’t bet Fitch, Kos or Parisyan (in a rematch) against Serra, but wouldn’t be surprised to Serra lose. I noticed you didn’t include Hughes or Serra in your top 7.
You challenged me in not looking at the past fight or two, but I did include Fitch vs Alves, which was 5 fights and nearly 2 years ago (for Fitch).
The scenario I used was based off of the committed matches the UFC has set for the 1st half of 2008 and is pushing for some of the other deserving fighters to get a shot next year as well.
I’d like to see GSP vs Fitch for 5 rounds a year from now, if not sooner.
well said. i didn’t mention hughes because obviously he’s next in line and for good reason. gsp and hughes are still the top dogs in the division with fitch close behind in my mind. when i challenged you to look back more then 2 fights/years i meant for all the top guys not just serra. all these guys have been proving themselves for years with big wins. untill serra beats the likes of hughes, fitch, kos, karo, sanchez, davis, alves, burkman even penn or sherk at lw(named these 2 because if they were still in the ww div they’d be near the top). i honestly think serra would have trouble with all those fighters. i won’t think of him as one of the top fighters in the world with only one big win to his credit.
i would also love to gsp-fitch. there’s no doubt that it would be a 5 round war.
i do think serra is a good fighter and a great mma coach and if he beats hughes then he deserves everything he gets. i just don’t see the 9 time champ losing to a guy that has publicly bashed him for months.
vampsalyr- what are your thoughts on the lhw div?
it’s about time thiago silva gets some credit. right now he’d be the guy i’d put up against jackson. like jackson thiago is getting better with every fight.
do you think they’ll wait to see what happens with chuck-wandy and soku-machida before deciding who fights rampage? meaning if wandy wins he’d get the title shot. and if chuck wins then the winner of soku-machida gets the title shot. if not wandy,soku, machida it’s obviously has to be griffin or my man t.silva. let me know what you think dude.
GIP – I completely agree regarding Serra. He’s the most difficult to gauge and I don’t see him in the mix a year from now. There are just so many talented up and coming fighters in the WW division and the matchup possibilities are endless. I do think that if Hughes loses to either Serra or GSP he might jump to MW to finish his career. Hughes vs Silva or Hughes vs Henderson would be huge (and fun to see Hughes lose in 2 divisions, IMO).
GIP – re LHW…Right now if they were to schedule a match for Jackson, I’d like to see Griffin. I’m not really a fan of his, but I have to respect him not only beating, but submitting Rua. Thiago caught everyone’s eye last Saturday and I think he’ll make a name for himself in 2008. The following “this guy beat this guy, therefore” could make the argument for him getting a shot now…
Silva > Alexander > Jardine >>Liddell & Griffin > Rua.
The only person I could see other than Griffin or Silva is Wanderlei if he beats Liddell. Dana is a big fan of letting his champions redeem themselves from previous losses and I’m sure Jackson would like to avenge his past with Wandy.
I think because of the Griffin/W Silva popularity with North American MMA fans that it will hurt Thiago, Soku & Machida. In the UFC’s eyes, Griffin or Wanderlei will sell more PPV’s and in the meantime they’d use the time to build the “lesser-knowns”.
I would love to a Parisyan fight Fitch, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Parisyan take on Koscheck either. I don’t see Parisyan beating either guy, but it would be a competitive no matter which guy Parisyan fights.
I’d like to see Parisyan fight without the “personal baggage” going on in his life right now (whatever it may be). I was disappointed in his showing last week as were the majority of fans watching and hope he can get back to training properly and perform up to his expected level.
vampslayr- i’ll have to agree once again. i do think dana will give the title shot to wandy if he beats chuck. because then wandy would have beatin the last 2 ufc lhw champs. good marketing tool if you even needed one on for wandy. if chuck wins which i think is a 50/50 chance then ya give the shot to griffin. beating shogun was an unreal performance. i think if griffin can keep it standing he has as good a shot at beating rampage as anyone. hopefully all the top lhw’s will be fighting each other in 08 so we can clear up this cluster f*ck. never thought there would be a division more stacked then the ww’s. looks like i was wrong. i love it.
GIP – With Griffin getting KO’d by Jardine and submitting Rua, I’d be inclined to believe his best chance against Jackson may be on the ground.
fitch would destroy gono and koschek. fitch v perisian would be great and i couldnt pick a winner
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