UFC 135: 4 Reasons Lack of Prep Time Won't Hurt Josh Koscheck

The last time we saw Josh Koscheck, he went up against Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship.

This was the second fight between these two, as they first collided back at UFC 74 after GSP lost his title to Matt Serra, which may have been one of the biggest upsets in UFC history.

St-Pierre dominated Koscheck in their first meeting, and their second meeting last December was no different.

This time instead of using his superior wrestling skills, St-Pierre chose to stay on the feet and used his striking to take Koscheck out of his comfort zone.

The French Canadian landed several jabs, 55 total, over the course of five rounds. It was obvious that one of his jabs severely injured Koscheck's right eye as it became swollen in the first round and would become completely swollen by the end of the fight.

It was discovered that Koscheck had suffered a broken orbital, an injury that has kept the Ultimate Fighter alumnus out of the octagon for eight months.

Now that Koscheck is finally ready to fight again, he knows that he has to fight a top name to show that the loss to GSP was not a sign of his skills deteriorating.

He originally had plans to move up to middleweight and called out several of the division's top fighters, including Wanderlei Silva and Chris Leben. Koscheck also went as far as calling out light heavyweight and former middleweight champion Rich Franklin as long as the fight was at middleweight.

Koscheck would not get any of these opponents, as he focused in on former welterweight champion Matt Hughes after his UFC 135 opponent Diego Sanchez dropped out of the fight due to a hand injury.

Koscheck said that he had been training and was ready to fight and wanted Hughes badly, possibly since 2009 when Kos called out Hughes the first time.

The 33-year-old needs a win to get back in the talks for the title, and beating a legend like Hughes would certainly help.

With about 22 days to prepare to face Hughes, Koscheck has his work cut out for him, but he is ready. Here are four reasons why.

1. Matt Hughes Is Not the Same Fighter He Used to Be

Back in 2001, Matt Hughes was one of the best welterweight fighters in the UFC.

He proved that at UFC 34, when he won the title against Canadian Carlos Newton.

Newton caught Hughes in a triangle choke, but Hughes picked him up, put him up against the cage and slammed him to the ground, knocking the then champion unconscious.

After the victory, Hughes went on a tear, successfully defending the belt five times, defeating top names in the division, including Frank Trigg (twice), Sean Sherk, as well as Carlos Newton when the two rematched in 2002 at UFC 38.

However, that was then, and this is now. Clearly Hughes is not the same fighter that he was when he won the title in 2001.

The 37-year-old has made it clear that he does not plan on fighting in the octagon much longer.

It's not that he is not winning fights, as he as gone 3-1 in his last four fights, but his three wins have not come against top fighters in the division. Fighters like Renzo Gracie and Ricardo Almeida are talented fighters but are nowhere close to the top 10 rankings.

Against better fighters in the division, like Thiago Alves and Georges St-Pierre, Hughes has struggled.

In Hughes' last fight, he completed the trilogy with B.J. Penn. Unfortunately for Hughes, he was knocked out by Penn quickly, only 21 seconds into the first round.

Hughes does not want the end of his career to go like that of Chuck Liddell, who lost his last three fights in dominating fashion, being knocked out each time.

The Illinois native is still a good fighter, but his best days are behind him, and Koscheck will be too fast for Hughes to keep up with.  

2. Koscheck Is Motivated to Prove Ring Rust Is Not an Issue

In the past, when a fighter has a long layoff, his first fight back is not his best performance.

One example is when Quinton "Rampage" Jackson returned to fight Rashad Evans in 2010. After filming "The Ultimate Fighter," Jackson was supposed to settle the score with Evans in December of 2009 but stepped out of the fight to film the movie The A-Team.

Jackson returned over a year later in May of 2010 to finally fight Evans. The fight did not live up to its high expectations, and one of the main reasons was the Jackson's ring rust.

Ring rust has always been an issue for some fighters, but Josh Koscheck is motivated to prove that he is not one of those fighters.

If Koscheck had not started training until the UFC called him to replace Sanchez, then there is a good chance that ring rust and time to prepare would be issues in the fight.

However, Koscheck has been healthy and ready to go for several weeks and has been training at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California,

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"I've been training. I've helped all my guys, such as Luke Rockhold, Daniel Cormier and all those guys get ready for the Strikeforce fights they have coming up," said Koscheck. 

"I was going four or five rounds sparring with Luke Rockhold, so I'm in shape, good enough to fight 15 minutes. In this world, you can do anything for 15 minutes."

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Koscheck went on to say that even though he was not cleared 100% until early August, he felt fine three or four months prior and has been training ever since, preparing for when UFC came calling.

Although Koscheck has been out of the game for awhile, he is in shape and ready to show that ring rust is not an issue.

3. Hughes Has Been out of the Octagon Just as Long as Koscheck

If ring rust is going to be an issue for Josh Koscheck, it will also be an issue for Matt Hughes.

Koscheck's last fight came at UFC 124 in December of last year.

Hughes' last fight came a month earlier at UFC 123 in Detroit when B.J. Penn knocked him out in 21 seconds.

The time off may have been time Hughes took to step back and take a look at his career.

After the knockout loss, UFC president Dana White stated that he thought Hughes should retire, and there is no doubt that Hughes has considered it.

At 37 years old, Hughes may have achieved all that he wanted to in his 10-year career in the UFC.

However, Hughes clearly wants a couple more fights before he calls it quits with accepting the fight against Diego Sanchez.

If Hughes was coming off of a fight a few months ago, then he would clearly have a step up on Koscheck who has been out of the game for close to year, but ring rust will be an issue for him as well.

For fighters who are in the prime of their career, ring rust may not be much of an issue compared to older fighters like Hughes.

Preparation for a fight is tough on any fighter, but young fighters do not have as many issues as others because their body is in the best shape it can possibly be.

Hughes is a workhorse, and he will be able to get his body to where it needs to be, but getting it there may take a toll on the former champ, who is on the wrong side of 35.

4. Koscheck Is a Superior Fighter

Not only is Koscheck four years younger than Hughes, but the Pennsylvania native is a far better fighter when the two stack up.

Koscheck has superior striking compared to Hughes as Koscheck has shown in knockout victories that came against Dustin Hazelett, Yoshiyuki Yoshida and Frank Trigg.

If Hughes chooses to stay on the feet with Koscheck, the fight could be a very short one as Hughes showed against B.J. Penn that his standup skills have diminished.

The knockout loss was the first time that Hughes has ever been knocked out in his fighting career, with only a technical knockout to Georges St-Pierre on his resume.

When comparing their wrestling, both fighters were talented wrestlers in college, but Koscheck comes out on top.

If you take a look at the numbers, Hughes is successful in 51 percent of his takedown attempts, while Koscheck is 55 percent successful.

Hughes has relied on his takedown and ground abilities for several of his fights during his career, but Koscheck has one of the best power doubles in the game, as seen by his ability to take down St-Pierre, which is no easy task.

I see Koscheck looking to keep this fight on the feet to try to end the fight in exciting fashion. If he chooses to take the fight to ground, he should have no problem doing so as Hughes has only been able to avoid 31 percent of attempted takedowns by his opponent.

If the fight goes to the ground, Koscheck has shown that he has no problem frustrating a fighter with his ground game—just ask Paul Daley—but he will have to watch for Hughes' submissions skills.