The Koscheck Conspiracy

My latest conspiracy in the UFC might seem trivial to alot of people, but if I were Jon Fitch, I'd be fucking pissed.

Joe Silva, Dana White and whoever else is responsible for those sort of decisions at the UFC set up the high profile matchup of former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges "Rush" St. Pierre (13-2) v Josh Koscheck (9-1), one of the high-profile offspring of the Ultimate Fighter reality show.

While Koscheck recently ended the undefeated run of Diego "The Nightmare" Sanchez (17-1), I don't think that it's fair to give Koscheck his shot at the well recognized #3 man in the UFC Welterweight division (St. Pierre follows behind current Champion Matt Serra and former champion/UFC icon Matt Hughes).

Look at it this way, it wasn't so long ago that Koscheck was tapping out from a rear naked choke applied by Drew Fickett. While he has beaten some very accomplished opponents in Sanchez, Jeff Joslin (5-3), Jonathan Goulet (19-8), Ansar Chalangov (7-3), and former UFC Middleweight champion Dave Menne (39-15-2) since then, he stopped two opponents. Goulet submitted due to strikes and Chalangov due to rear naked choke.

In 5 fights, Koscheck has only finished without the help of the judges twice and has been remarkably boring, but who else deserves the shot at St. Pierre.

What about Jon Fitch?

Jon Fitch (14-2, 1 NC) has won his last 13 fights, 6 of which were in the UFC.

In his 6 UFC appearances, Jon Fitch has not been given any respect. Only recently did the UFC start to hail him as "the best kept secret in the welterweight division." Damn right he is, after all, no one else in the world has won 6 in a row.

Not only has Fitch kept his perfect UFC record of 6-0 unblemished when he beat very dangerous Brazilian Roan "Jucao" Carniero (11-6), submitting Jucao with a rear naked choke in the second round. While Fitch was dominated in the first, he showed resiliance and came back with a groundnpound performance that shocked everyone. No one gets out-wrestled in the first round and then holds their opponent down for that kind of an ass-whupping in the second, right?

Apparently, Jon Fitch does.

Fitch's other victories in the UFC include a submissions of top contenders Josh Burkman (8-4) and Luigi Fiorvanti (9-3) along with a TKO of Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves (11-3).

Not only does it look like Fitch should be fighting St. Pierre on paper, but even stylistically and from a fan's perspective, Fitch deserves that high card fight.

After all, Koscheck is a great wrestler, but he uses a lay and pray attack, which is why he has so many decisions. He is meticulous and slow when he's working, he's not explosive and he's not fun to watch. He also has really only displayed his one-dimensional wrestling.

While Fitch doesn't have the NCAA wrestling pedigree that Koscheck has, he does have a D-1 wrestling backround, and his standing, powerful ground and pound is something that is, honestly, really fun to watch.

Koscheck is a great, technical wrestler, but he doesn't stand over his opponents while hammering them with punches the way that Fitch does. He doesn't have aggressive attack skills, just meticulous and constant ground control.

Koscheck goes to a position than attacks, that's not what Fitch does.

In the eternal style of great ground and pounders like Fedor Emelianenko and Tito Ortiz, Fitch attack from anywhere. He passes guard while throwing strikes. That's his form of ground control.

This is all just me theorizing, but I think that Fitch's credentials and exciting skills make him a much better candidate for a position making shot than Koscheck.

I guess it won't matter, since Georges St. Pierre is going to beat Koscheck anyway.