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Josh Koscheck on GSP playing it safe: “That’s kind of bad, he’s going to lose a lot of fans like that” and “he has no punching power”
By Zach Arnold | June 2, 2010
In the Paul Daley fight, you stuck to the game plan and played it safe.
“As (Georges) St. Pierre would say, he fights safely. That’s pretty much how I fought. I stuck to the coach’s game plan as hard-headed as I am, I finally listened and I stuck to the game plan and came up with a very conservative, easy win and you know I had a lot riding on this fight so I had to obviously listen to my coaches you know because obviously we had the TUF 12 coach and fighting St. Pierre for the title so you know I fought a conservative fight.”
What do you think about GSP playing it safe in fights?
“You know, that’s kind of bad, you know. He’s going to lose a lot of fans like that. I go out there to finish fights and win, you know, knock guys out and that’s what I’m going to try to do to St. Pierre. Actually not what I’m going to try, that’s what I’m going to do to St. Pierre. I’m going to force him to stand toe-to-toe when we fight and he better be working on his punching power because he has no punching power. When’s the last time you saw Georges St. Pierre knock somebody out in the UFC? It’s been a long time and you know after Matt Serra knocked him out, you saw Georges St. Pierre you know start his ‘safe’ fight you know, he’s been fighting safe for a long time putting on good game plans but I can guarantee you that I’m going to force Georges St. Pierre into standing toe-to-toe with me and I’m going to knock him out.”
In your last fight with St. Pierre, wrestling was a big issue. Will it be the deciding factor in the re-match?
“Yeah, I’m going to be working my wrestling like crazy and I’m going to force him to stand with me. If he can’t take me down, what’s he going to do? You know, he’s not going to knock me out. So, you know, he better be working with, I heard he’s working with Freddie Roach. You know, the last guy that worked with Freddie Roach, I don’t even know who that was, he got knocked out. Yeah, so, you know, so for me I don’t care, you know, what’s Freddie Roach going to teach Georges St. Pierre you know in six months? So, that’s like trying to teach a grown man how to wrestle in six months, it’s not going to happen. … For me, you know, I’m going to force Georges so stand with me toe-to-toe and he’s going to get knocked out.”
How surreal is it going from TUF contestant to now TUF coach?
“Yeah, you know, it’s cool you know. It just shows that hard work does pay off and man I’ve come a long way as a person, as a fighter, it’s crazy. You know when I was on The Ultimate Fighter 1 I was just this you know very raw, very athletic kid and here I am now you know six years later coming back to TUF 12 and I’m super-excited about this opportunity to coach and you know influence these young guys because they saw me on Ultimate Fighter 1 and you know here I am now the coach so it gives them inspiration and hopefully I can teach them a lot about you know marketing and a lot about you know winning and just you know coming out and making this thing a business and promoting themselves in a good manner whether it’s good or bad, actually, you know, I just want to be a positive influence with these young guys.”
What is like to train people now? New experience? You are at AKA Fresno.
“Yeah, I do some of the classes when I’m in Fresno and I get some down time. I do train AKA Fresno and man, it’s a great experience you know I love to be around you know the kids and teach them and you know show them you know the progress of what I’ve done and just you know kind of give back to them.”
Do you feel that the fact that you are nastier in the cage than St. Pierre makes the difference?
“Yeah, I think we have comparable skills. We’re both athletic, we both have good wrestling. You know, I definitely believe I’m nasty, you know when I come in there and I hit you I’m trying to take your head, I’m trying to put the lights out and I’ve had some you know… after my first knockout in the UFC it was addicting man, I was like, holy [expletive], this is amazing. And you know that’s what I try to do. I’m going to go in there into this fight and I’m going to let it hang out and I’m going to try to knock out Georges St. Pierre out.”
You wanted to fight 12 times in 2010, but now you’re only going to fight twice this year.
“Yeah, you know, my last fight man was a tough training camp and I was in the gym for so long and my body got very beat up so this is going to be a great rest for me to heal my body, get my body back, get a lot of therapy and just you know recover and teach and coach these guys and TUF 12 I can guarantee is going to be fireworks, you know, I guarantee it’s going to be fireworks.”
Any final thoughts?
“Yeah, you know, I just want to say that you know I know that Dana (White) you know doesn’t like me, he said in an interview last week regarding you know I’m not a team player and this and that you know and it kind of you know just let it be known that TUF’s 12’s gonna be good because I’m not happy about that because I’m a guy that steps up and fights anybody, any time, any place and to go on air and on record and say that I’m not a team player, that’s BS man. I’m the guy that steps up and fights anybody any time when they need somebody for short notice, who do they call? They call me and you know I’m kind of pissed off about that so I can guarantee you that TUF 12 is going to be a [expletive] great show.”
(Dana White criticism) Is that because you’re an AKA guy?
“That could be the case.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I am Pumped.
There’s gonna be a lot of guys on here saying Koscheck has no chance. I’m not gonna make a prediction yet but I will say Koscheck is the hardest matchup for GSP at 170.
I am pumped more for this fight than any other on the dockett right now.
I agree, this is a fight I definitely don’t want to miss. Kos is gonna be a difficult match for GSP
Should be a good fight but Kos better not keep his chin up like he did against Thiago because he’ll go to sleep again.
Koscheck taking a shot at GSP for playing it safe is classic. Didn’t he execute the same type of game plan against Paul Daley?
This guy is the best heel in MMA hands down. Gotta love it.
Exactly what I said when I read this. I am still looking forward to this fight though.
I wonder if a loss to Kos would make GSP a fighter against instead of a world class amateur wrestler with mediocre jiu jitsu.
GSP is not a world class amateur wrestler
I might be offended by Josh Koscheck’s hypocrisy if I didn’t know that he’s just trying to play a heel pro wrestling character. Koscheck should know all about the effectiveness of GSP’s fight style in recent years, because it’s essentially a better version of Koscheck’s style.
But the give-away that Koscheck definitely didn’t mean what he was saying was when he said that GSP has no punching power. He certainly does have it when he chooses to use it, and Koscheck need look no further than GSP’s fight against his teammate, Jon Fitch, for proof of that.
General consensus is that GSP doesn’t have one punch KO power.
Koscheck doesn’t have one punch KO power either
Yes he does. Just ask Yoshida.
Kos barely attempted takedowns when he fought Alves (although he had many chances to do it). He kept it standing not because he was confident about his striking ability, but because he was too timid to shoot in, hoping for a lucky KO.
GSP on the contrary, took the Brazilian down multiple times at will. He was always determinded to excute a move, striking or grappling.
Both are insanely talented athletes and top MMA fighters today. But it’s very clear who’s playing safer.
Honestly I have to laugh at the paradoxical opinions of mma fans. GSP’s safe style is good because he wins fights. Machida was boring. Anderson is boring. When Koscheck does it he’s boring, and when he comments on GSP doing it, he’s a hypocrite. He didn’t say GSP SHOULDN’T do it, he just suggest he might lose fans. That’s not hypocrisy, that’s a comment.
there’s just nothing hypocritical in what Koscheck said. Koscheck didn’t say GSP is gonna lose fans like that but Kos’ gonna do it and be a star.