UFC 135 Fight Card: Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck, Head to Toe Breakdown

UFC 135 goes down this Saturday, September 24th, at 9PM ET on pay-per-view.

The night will be capped off by Jon Jones' first title defense against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, but before the light heavyweights can squash their beef, UFC legend Matt Hughes will face off against Josh Koscheck in a welterweight showdown.

Hughes, a nine time UFC welterweight champion and UFC hall-of-famer, holds the current record for the most wins in the UFC with eighteen victories in the Octagon. He has a strong wrestling base—he was a two time NCAA Division I All-American—which he uses to set up both submissions and ground-and-pound victories. Between his long list of accolades and longevity in the cage, there can be no doubt that Hughes is one of the best UFC welterweights ever.

Koscheck, a four-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, is coming off of a 10-month layoff following his fight against Georges St-Pierre, in which he badly broke his orbital bone. Though wrestling is Koscheck's largest strength, he is also a capable striker with decent power in his hands. Koscheck needs a win here to start his road back to challenging for the welterweight title.

This should be an entertaining fight between two tough competitors. Let's take it point by point:

Striking

Though, according to FightMetric, Hughes is the more accurate and active striker, Koscheck is widely considered to have better boxing skills and is the younger, faster man. It's unlikely that Hughes will be able to beat Koscheck standing, and I don't think he'll even try. Koscheck showed his resilience against GSP, fighting for five rounds with a broken orbital bone, and Hughes is far from "GSP talented" on his feet.

Hughes recently showed that his chin may not be what it once was, getting knocked out in short order by BJ Penn in his previous fight. I'm not purporting that Koscheck has the boxing ability of Penn, but I'm certain that Koscheck feels comfortable standing toe-to-toe with Hughes, especially after seeing what may be a chink in his armor.

This one is pretty simple my in eyes...

Advantage: Koscheck

Grappling

If Hughes is going to win anywhere, it's more than likely on the ground. He has used his wrestling to work the ground-and-pound and submissions games with success throughout his entire career, and there's no doubt that the ground is where Hughes is most comfortable.

Unfortunately for Hughes, Koscheck also has high caliber wrestling. He succeeds in taking his opponent down more than half of the time, and successfully defends more than half of takedown attempts against him. Koscheck is also bigger, and most likely stronger, than Hughes, so I don't see him getting out-wrestled here.

Hughes could potentially use a Randy Couture-esque game plan, pushing Koscheck against the cage and turning this fight into a clinch fight, but he'll constantly be at risk of getting put on his back by Koscheck. Let's be honest, he isn't going to submit anyone from there. Again, Hughes has his greatest chance to win this fight on the ground, but it remains to be seen if he can take the fight there on his own terms. 

Advantage: Koscheck

Training

By the time Saturday rolls around, Koscheck will have been training specifically for this fight for 19 days. That's not the shortest notice we've ever seen, but it's a pretty quick turnaround from signing a contract to fighting, especially given Koscheck's long layoff from fighting due to his injury.

It's possible that Koscheck won't be properly physically peaked given his lack of a true training camp, but he may also be more fresh and injury free. Let's also not forget that Koscheck trains with a lot of tough guys at American Kickboxing Academy, many of whom have been training for recent fights. While he hasn't been training himself for Hughes, there's no doubt that Koscheck has been getting in good sparring.

On the other hand, Hughes has known about a fight for much longer than 19 days, but he has known about this fight for exactly as long as Koscheck has. While he has been going through training camp, and may be in better peak physical shape than Koscheck, he has been spending the majority of his camp training for Diego Sanchez, a much different fighter than Koscheck. It's hard to say how much he's had to change his game plan coming into this fight, but Hughes is a veteran and should be able to adapt well.

Advantage: If there is a slight advantage to be had here—and I'm not sure there is—it's for Hughes. 

This is a tough, tough matchup for Hughes. Styles make fights, and Koscheck is a stylistic nightmare for Hughes' swan song. The two fighters have very similar skill sets, but Kosheck is younger, bigger, faster, and stronger. How do you contend with that if you're Hughes?

If the betting odds on this fight tell us anything—the most Hughes friendly line has him as a 3.8 to 1 underdog—it's that this fight is Koscheck's to lose. I don't see anything in Hughes that screams "bet on me!," and so...I won't.

Pick: Josh Koscheck