Josh Koscheck recently stepped in as a late replacement for Diego Sanchez to fight Matt Hughes at UFC 135 later this month, but prior to that the outspoken star had indicated he was interested in a fight at middleweight.
In a new blog for Sportsnet.ca Koscheck reveals that he had three potential targets on his hit-list if the UFC had given him the green light to compete at 185lbs.
“Realistically, I asked to fight Wanderlei Silva, Chris Leben and even Rich Franklin at 185,” he says.
In fairness all three sound like intriguing fights for the former welterweight No.1 contender. It’s particularly interesting that he mentioned Leben as the two have a well documented history of bad blood that stems from their appearance on The Ultimate Fighter Season 1.
It was on that show that Koscheck first earned his ‘heel’ reputation that would follow him throughout his UFC career as he and fellow housemate Bobby Southworth went out of their way to push Leben’s buttons with cruel jibes and pranks at his expense.
Years later the two fighters, who would both go on to become stars after their stint on the show, appeared to squash their beef, but the fact that Koscheck was interested in fighting him suggests that there’s still a score to be settled between the two.
For the time being that fight isn’t going to happen given that Koscheck now appears ready to launch a new assault on the welterweight division, but in the longer term it’s hard to imagine him getting a third shot at GSP’s title so I’d like to see him consider a permanent move up to 185lbs where a whole slew of interesting match-ups await him.
