UFC: Josh Koscheck Could Beat Tito Ortiz at 205

When Tito Ortiz started yelling at Mark Coleman at UFC 109, many people thought that Ortiz should be picking a fight with somebody his own age.

Josh Koscheck was one of those people, and now he's calling out Ortiz—despite a difference of two weight classes.

Koscheck tweeted his desire to fight Ortiz after he's finished with Paul Daley.

The funny part is, although Ortiz would have a big size advantage over Koscheck, I would absolutely favor Koscheck in this matchup.

Stylistically, this matchup is as bad for Ortiz as the Chuck Liddell matchup.

Ortiz relies upon his his wrestling, and hasn't fared well against opponents who he can't take down. Koscheck is a much better wrestler than Ortiz, but while Koscheck may still have some difficulty taking down Ortiz, he would certainly be able to keep the fight standing as well as Forrest Griffin.

While the fight remains standing, I see it favoring Koscheck.

Tito certainly will have a height advantage, but he isn't really enough of a threat on the feet to keep Koscheck at distance.  Furthermore, Tito isn't much of a power puncher, so it's unlikely that he would be knocking out Koscheck.

Koscheck might land a lower volume of strikes against Ortiz, but he should still land, and when he does land, he lands hard.

Despite the size difference, I'm positive that Koscheck is the more powerful puncher of the two.

Furthermore, Tito is likely to gas out by the third round. If he lasts that long, Koscheck should really be able to take advantage of Ortiz's conditioning.

At the very worst, Koscheck could lose a decision, but I feel that a Koscheck victory would be far more likely.

If Koscheck were to beat Ortiz —and I think he would—then such a victory should lead to a few interesting conclusions about MMA and the UFC.

Irrelevant: Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell is a horrible stylistic matchup for Ortiz, as the previous two fights should have shown.  Ortiz can make it a competitive fight, but ultimately, he should lose this matchup stylistically.

If Ortiz does beat Liddell, it will only go to show how far Liddell has deteriorated.

If Liddell wins, he also shouldn't really be overly celebrated for beating a guy who is getting called out by welterweights.

Jumping weight class: not all it's cracked up to be

Koscheck could jump up to 205 pounds and probably beat Tito Ortiz, but that alone shouldn't really bump Koscheck up the rankings as much as some people might think. 

He should win this fight due to a good stylistic matchup.

Even if Koscheck beat Ortiz, Griffin, Mark Coleman, Stephan Bonnar, and Randy Couture at 205, that shouldn't impress people nearly as much as beating Georges St. Pierre at welterweight. 

In fact, I'd give Koscheck a good chance against any of those light-heavyweights.

Evolution of MMA: Moving Fast

It doesn't seem so long ago that Ortiz was fighting Liddell for the belt, but at the present time the current contenders aren't afraid of the old guard at all.

Stylistic matchups: a key consideration in the value of a win or loss

If you want to fabricate some rankings, there are some brutal stylistic matchups that would allow lighter fighters to have success at higher weight classes.

Winning at a higher weight is nice, but being able to beat higher talent and a wider range of styles should be just as important considerations when weighing the importance or value of a given victory.

Consider Randy Couture's recent victory over Mark Coleman.

When two good wrestlers fight each other, the fight is most often won by the fighter with the better striking and conditioning.

You mean Randy Couture beat this guy?

Gee, I think we should give Couture a title shot.