Georges St. Pierre Vs. Josh Koscheck II: The Most Anticipated Rematch Ever?

Three years ago when Georges St. Pierre defeated Josh Koscheck at UFC 74, very few fans desired to see a rematch between the two anytime in the foreseeable future.

After all, St. Pierre left little doubt as to whom the better fighter was on that night thoroughly dominating Koscheck for three full rounds to pick up the unanimous decision victory.

Fast forward to the year 2010 and the rematch is signed for UFC 124 this December, only this time the UFC welterweight championship will be at stake in a five round battle.

Koscheck defeated Paul Daley at UFC 113 to earn a title shot and a coaching slot opposite St. Pierre on The Ultimate Fighter season 12, which is set to air on Spike TV tomorrow night, September 15.

After the victory over Daley, Koscheck took to the microphone and began to insult the Montreal crowd claiming he would dethrone their beloved St. Pierre. Suddenly a fight that had little to no appeal had instantly become a highly anticipated matchup.

Koscheck, who relishes the role of the villain, has done a superb job of hyping this fight up in every interview he has done since the bout has been signed.

The All-American wrestler even took his trash talking to Twitter, calling St. Pierre a “Frenchie” and boasting that the champion “better be working on his stand up” because he’s coming to knock him out.

TUF 12 hasn’t even aired yet and already the anticipation for this matchup is building faster than anyone could have predicted. So the question now arises, is St. Pierre vs. Koscheck II the most anticipated rematch in UFC history?

We cannot answer that question until the build up for this fight has reached its maximum point. For now we can only speculate the intense altercations the two will share as rival coaches on TUF 12. If the previews shown on UltimateFighter.com recently are any indication, we are set for an intense three months of reality television on Spike.

Perhaps what makes this rematch is so intriguing is the fact that these two athletes are complete polar opposites.

St. Pierre is as respectful as a champion should be in this sport he carries himself very professionally in public and represents the honor of a true martial artist.

Koscheck on the other hand isn’t exactly well liked by fans and has developed the reputation for being both a trash talker and an instigator over the course of his athletic career.

As St. Pierre himself stated, this is a fight pitting the ultimate good guy against the ultimate bad boy and so far the UFC is promoting this matchup phenomenally.

As previously mentioned, their first fight wasn’t a closely contested matchup and it wasn’t extremely exciting either. The UFC has taken a bout that very few people had any aspiration to see and has turned into a must-watch championship fight.

Koscheck and St. Pierre have also improved leaps and bounds over the past three years. St. Pierre’s dominant wrestling took Koscheck by surprise in the first fight, but will the champion be able to take the NCAA All-American wrestler down at will this time around?

Perhaps Koscheck can pull off the upset of the year, or at least push the champion in a similar fashion to how Chael Sonnen pushed middleweight champ Anderson Silva at UFC 117? Or, maybe history will repeat itself and St. Pierre dominates Koscheck yet again?

Either way, this has become a very intriguing rematch all in due part to Koscheck’s mouth. If Koscheck was as courteous as St. Pierre is in interviews, nobody would want to see this fight.

Much like UFC middleweight contender Sonnen, Koscheck is unleashing a verbal beatdown on the champion and on December 11 he will have the opportunity to back it all up.

Time will tell if this welterweight championship headliner becomes a more anticipated matchup than classic UFC rematches of the past, such as Liddell vs. Ortiz or Ortiz vs. Shamrock. It all depends on how everything unfolds on TUF 12 and if this season lives up to the hype.

One thing is for sure, love him or hate him, Koscheck is making you want to see this fight. Even if that means, 85% of those ordering the pay-per-view want to see St. Pierre give him a beating.

St. Pierre has dominated over the division to the point where it is starting to become difficult to promote his matchups as competitive headliners.

He has outclassed essentially every top contender in the welterweight division but despite already being one of those defeated contenders, Koscheck makes this a compelling matchup.

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Mitch Ciccarelli is a staff writer to both HeavyMMA.com and Bleacher Report. He is also a future United States Airman and a Jedi Master. Follow Mitch on twitter @mitchciccarelli