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William Holmes: Josh Koscheck — From Villain to Hero
By Zach Arnold | March 2, 2009
The author (William Holmes) can be contacted at [email protected].
Josh Koscheck has a public relations problem. From his first day on The Ultimate Fighter, he’s been fighting an uphill battle in trying to win the respect and support of the MMA fan base.
Take away the individual components of this sport, and view it as a whole. A great baseball player has to be able to hit, bunt, steal, field, and throw (five-tool player). A great baseball player also has to be able to anticipate the type of pitch a pitcher will throw to him. A great fighter has to be able to strike, grapple, submit, avoid submissions, and keep his wits about him after getting rocked. A great fighter also has to know his opponent’s weakness, and take advantage of that deficiency.
When Josh Koscheck first entered the fight scene, he was given the too often heard criticism that is directed towards wrestlers that Josh Koscheck is a human blanket, Josh Koscheck is one dimensional. Surely wrestling is a great base to have if one decides to pursue MMA, but the sport had evolved to the point where you had to know more than just wrestling in order to win, you had to know a little bit of everything. When a fighter is matched up with a fighter who is his equal in one aspect of the fight game, it’s the better man in the other aspects that wins the fight.
Enter Diego Sanchez, one of the original Ultimate Fighter winners. In their first encounter, Koscheck learned the painful lesson that wrestling alone will not lead you to victory. Other fighters are out there who were just as good as he was in wrestling, and if he can’t consistently take them down, Koscheck better be able to out strike them. By the time of the re-match, Koscheck was riding a four fight win streak, and was looking at a future shot at the title if he could secure a victory. Koscheck focused on improving the weakness in his MMA arsenal, and surprised many by winning that re-match by out striking Diego as he tried to shed the image of being a blanket wrestler.
Of course, when he met the Canadian buzz-saw known as Georges St. Pierre, he succumbed to the greatness that is G.S.P. He fought the antithesis of himself. Just as Ozzie Smith was considered a great fielder and a so-so hitter, and Ryan Howard is considered a great hitter but a so-so fielder, Georges St. Pierre used to be considered a great striker with average grappling abilities, and Josh Koscheck used to be considered a great grappler with average striking abilities. However, in that encounter, G.S.P. showed that he had greatly improved in his grappling abilities, and showed that if you want to be considered a true legend in the sport, you have to be more than efficient in all aspects of the MMA game. Georges St. Pierre is the Willie Mays of MMA.
Since that loss, Josh Koscheck has gone 3-2 in the UFC, fighting five times within a year. Prior to losing to Paulo Thiago, Koscheck delivered two KO’s of the year candidates. Koscheck was dominating Thiago on his feet prior to making a minor mistake of looking down while throwing a lazy jab.
Josh Koscheck’s journey through his MMA career has taken him through ups and downs. Koscheck’s evolution through the fight game should be encouraged and not discouraged. It’s this type of attitude and hard work effort that will slowly win-over a reluctant fan base. All the great champions of MMA are well versed in every aspect of the game, from the ground game to the stand up game. Josh Koscheck is already a great grappler, who has been making noticeable strides in his striking. A few more hours in the boxing gym a week should eventually correct the sloppy boxing technique that led to that KO. Josh Koscheck is able to recognize that it takes more than just great wrestling ability to be a great MMA fighter.
Koscheck has also shown a willingness to fight all comers, as often as possible. This is the type of behavior that should be encouraged in all fighters, especially amongst the elite fighters. In our sister sport of boxing, too often we see the “great” fighters avoid fighting up and coming prospects. Calzaghe avoided Froch. Mayweather avoided Cotto, Margarito, Mosley, and Pacquiao. Nobody seems to want to fight Paul Williams or Andre Berto. We’ve only seen B.J. Penn fight twice in the past year. Love him or hate him, Josh Koscheck has a name in the MMA community, and he should be applauded for giving prospects the opportunity to establish a name for themselves. His willingness to take high risk/low reward fights only endears himself towards a rabid fan base.
Josh Koscheck has a public relations problem. He is still considered a villain by many in the MMA community when his work ethic, ability to recognize and improve upon his deficiencies, and willingness to fight anyone in front of him is the type of behavior that MMA fans should applaud and encourage.
More fighters like Josh Koscheck will only improve the quality of fighters in the sport of MMA, and will prevent MMA from experiencing the dilution and irrelevance that is happening to boxing.
Now that’s a public relations problem that MMA should do everything possible to avoid.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I would venture a guess that Koscheck’s goal is not to be a former contender/gatekeeper to the top ten.
Your definition of five-tool baseball player is incorrect. The five tools are:
1) hitting for average
2) hitting for power
3) running speed
4) arm strength
5) fielding ability
“Georges St. Pierre used to be considered a great striker with average grappling abilities”
Wat?
GSP has always been a ground & pound fighter, even in his UCC/TKO days. The main reason his KO of Hieron was so impressive was because it showed that he was more than just a ground & pound guy. But make no mistake, his wrestling has always been his bread & butter.
“Georges St. Pierre is the Willie Mays of MMA.”
Personally, I think of him more as the Gaylord Perry of MMA.
Uhm…I think Kos’ main problem is his attitude. In every single interview I’ve seen of him, he comes across as a spoiled brat who thinks the world owes him something.
It’s one thing to be self-confident, like Randy Couture, and a whole different thing is to be a bragging punk, like Kos…hell, his problem is probably that he lacks the charisma that Tito has…and somebody that talks so much crap without any charisma can only be hated.
I admine Kos-the-fighter, but really really dislike Kos-the-interview and root every time for him getting his head kicked five rows up.
Uhm…I think Kos\\\’ main problem is his attitude. In every single interview I\\\’ve seen of him, he comes across as a spoiled brat who thinks the world owes him something.
It\\\’s one thing to be self-confident, like Randy Couture, and a whole different thing is to be a bragging punk, like Kos…hell, his problem is probably that he lacks the charisma that Tito has…and somebody that talks so much crap without any charisma can only be hated.
I admire Kos-the-fighter, but really really dislike Kos-the-interview and root every time for him getting his head kicked five rows up.
I have to ask: When was GSP considered a great striker (maybe now that he did well against a tired BJ and looked good against Fitch)? Prior to his Koscheck fight he dominated everybody (except the first Hughes and Serra fights) on the ground. Actually yes he did TKO the blackish guy that did well in the IFL, I forget his name for some reason at the moment. I’ll remember it as soon as I hit the “send” button. Anyway, GSP dominated and won virtually all his pre Kos fights by ground control/gnp and submissions other than the above referenced. Please don’t say Sherk. The stand up was evenish and GSP won by takedown and g’n’p.
Next, what are you smoking? Kos was dominating Alves????? Dude, review that fight. Kos was nowhere close to dominating that fight. Thiago was winning the standup, not by a lot but certainly winning it. Kos dominating???
You provide some great info in general on this site but your personalized views are so far from reality that you lose credibility. Please think through your posts before just posting them.
I meant Thiago Silva not Alves…… Thiago Alves did dominate Kos, but Kos was dominating Thiago Silva
When I remember GSP first entering the UFC, he was promoted as a karate specialist. I remember reading that there used to be videos of GSP practicing Karate as a kid and that he was touted as a prodigy. He still wears his karate gi upon entering the UFC cage. Of course GSP has showed that his ground game is superb, I’m not arguing that it isn’t. GSP probably had his ground game already perfected when he entered the UFC. I just remember that when GSP first entered his the UFC, the question was often “can GSP’s wrestling match Matt Hughes?” “Can GSP avoid BJ Penn’s slick ground skills?” GSP’s ground game is no longer an issue.
I’m merely saying that GSP’s original “base” of MMA was karate. He didn’t wrestle in high school, and I believe he just achieved his black belt in jiu jitsu.
The baseball analogy was a little bit of a stretch, but I was trying to make the point that MMA is a multifaceted game, and you have to be a master at more than one stage of the game to be succesful. It appears GSP has mastered every aspect of MMA, Koscheck has not but is trying to get there.
His latest KO loss showed that his striking isn’t elite level yet, and he needs to do more to get there.
Finally, the main point of the article:
At least Josh Koscheck takes the sport seriously, and tries to build upon his weaknesses, like any athlete in any major professional sport would. But he should be given kudos for not turning down fights, and for fighting whoever the UFC puts in front of him. He gives younger and inexperienced fighters a chance to make a name for themselves. Its something that a lot of fighters don’t do, and it’s something that almost never happens in boxing.
When a fighter shows heart, shows a willingness to fight whoever whenever, and shows the ability to recognize his weak spots and do what is necessary to improve upon them….
Shouldn’t this be a fighter that the fans cheer for?
I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to see in MMA is what is happening in boxing:
fighters turning down fights because their opponent doesn’t have an established “name”, and fighters only fighting once or twice in a year.
The thing you aren’t addressing is this: Any decent trainer or manager would sit Koscheck down for a little while and have him fine tune his game after two stoppage losses in three fights. And yet here he is, rushing back in. Why is he so desperate to make quick money? Does he owe someone? Is dropping it all on china white? Thiago was not a great fighter by any stretch of the imagination yet he “got caught”…maybe he should fight in a method that minimizes the chances of getting caught? I mean, he’s only one of the greatest amateur wrestlers to ever end up in MMA.
Assuming this is a response to Snowden, I am wondering exactly how it is that you refute his general point by congratulating Koscheck on having ended up a second rate ex-contender and hoping that he continues on this path.
….To me the best way to test your new abilities is by fighting in the cage, not by sparring with someone. He’s been fighting about every 2-3 months, would he really be better off by training for six months with no fights, or by training for those six months with a fight or two in between?
When Koscheck first entered the UFC he was criticized for being a human blanket, now he’s being criticized for not taking people down and laying on them. The guy cant win.
Koscheck is risking losing top ten status by fighting consistently, but fighting consistently also gives him a chance to see how he improved on other aspects of his game, and avoid ring rust.
Does Koscheck get paid by not fighting? Does Koscheck improve upon his top ten status by sitting on the sidelines?
Its all arguable…and I see the benefits of what you and Mr. Snowden are saying but as a fan, I’d rather see my fighters fighting more often than not, and test themselves against known and unknown opponents.
Since you’re in preach mode, I will answer you the same way:
-Does Koscheck go up in the rankings by getting stopped twice in a 4 month period?
-Does Koscheck get better with his standup by being concussed on the opposite end of some nobody’s right hand?
-Does using your wrestling mean that you must “lay on them”? Is that what GSP is doing to win fights?
-Speaking of GSP, what does it say about your core competency that a guy that didn’t start drilling takedowns until he was about 20 is repeatedly taking down an All American wrestler? Maybe he should have trained to prevent takedowns?
I don’t see how a “one-dimensional fighter” would be a PR villain/nightmare/etc. A one-dimensional fighter who sees even modest success, should be a PR darling, no? The common man’s fighter. Someone who has a life outside of sport, who has a relatively small skill-set, but wins on sheer power, energy and prowess. To me, any one-dimensional anything who manages to succeed in anything is the quintessential underdog victor, and everyone loves the underdog.
Alan:
All valid points, I’m just happy to see a fighter not relying on one aspect of his game, and would rather see a fighter constantly test himself, rather than sit on the sidelines.
Napoleon:
I think your missing the point, when Koscheck first entered the UFC he was known as just a wrestler, and was widely criticized for not having a jiu jitsu game or a striking game.
Now he answered his critics by greatly improving his striking game, and now he’s criticized for not sticking to his wrestling roots to win fights.
The myth of a “common man’s fighter” being succesful in MMA is dead. The chances of some common man winning a major promotion’s title is about as realistic as a common man making the squad of a major league team. Maybe, but doubtful.
Paulo Thiago, not Thiago Silva.
Man, what a nightmare that article and this thread turned out to be for William Holmes.
He’s got an attitude problem.
More of a chip on the shoulder. Yet still more acceptable than tito’s egotistical primadonna act IMO.
Kos actually gets out there and fights all comers as you said, and then doesn’t whine and make excuses after a loss.
Not sure why the attitude though, it really unnecessary. He’d probably be just as good a fighter without it, maybe even better.
I think I remember him mentioning on one of those promo shows that he had a little bit of a hard time growing up for being bi-racial. That is a real thing and understandable. But unfortunately it still doesn’t make his disposition any more endearing.
I really wouldn’t consider this to be a nightmare for me, I am actually happy that Zach was kind enough to post it on his site, I’ve received positive feedback on it.
It just seems to me that the people who disagree with me would rather see their fighters be one dimensional, and fight twice a year.
As much as I love to hate Koscheck it has nothing to do with his fighting abilities, but as others have said ” the chip on his shoulder”. He comes off as too cocky.
I think he is still a top 10 fighter and I too think its commendable that he is fighting as often as he is, but that still wont get him the title shot he wants if he is fighting 6 times a year and going 3-3.
dude, nobody wants a one dimensional fighter but Kos is NOT multi dimensional. He IS a prick, he WAS a boring blanket who won and now he IS a c level kick boxer who loses. He needs to combine the two skill sets and actually become multi dimensional.
I do like that he fights a lot, but it does not seem to be helping that much.
it doesn’t matter how much he works on his boxing, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, or whatever. the guy is an ahole and until he fixes that problem he will always be hated on.