October 28, 2009, at 5:03 am
All the manlove that I lost for UFC 106 when it was announced that Shane Carwin would have to wait another two months to beat up on Brock Lesnar has returned due to the signing of this fight.
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, fresh off his domination off Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 104 will have a short turnaround and take on top welterweight Josh Koscheck. Here’s the news from MMA Weekly:
Welterweights Anthony Johnson and Josh Koscheck are expected to co-headline UFC 106 on Nov. 21 in Las Vegas.
Sherdog.com was the first to report the bout Tuesday night and MMAWeekly.com subsequently confirmed it from sources close to the bout. Koscheck confirmed his participation on the fall card earlier via his official Twitter account.
The event’s original headliner, Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin, was Monday moved to Jan. 2 at UFC 108 after illness forced Lesnar to withdraw. Light heavyweights Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin were subsequently bumped up to main event status.
Johnson (10-2) is days removed from a devastating knockout of Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 104, a victory blemished by a 5 lb. weight overage that cost him 20 percent of his purse and a $65,000 bonus for “Knockout of the Night.” Johnson apologized for his misstep after the fight and said he struggled with a knee injury sustained in preparation for a June bout with Matt Brown (the bout was eventually cancelled when both fighters revealed injuries).
Koscheck (17-4) was originally scheduled to take on up-and-comer Mike Pierce on Jan. 11 at UFC Fight Night 20 before the shuffle. In his last Octagon appearance, the original “Ultimate Fighter” alum spoiled the return of former welterweight contender Frank Trigg at UFC 103. He is 11-4 in the UFC.
Suddenly, the card we were complaining about on Monday night suddenly has two main events. Technically, this is going to be the semi-main, but I’m more exciting to see this than the return of Tito Ortiz.
Johnson’s dominant victory over Yoshida was no mistake. He’s just a dominant athlete. While he has wrestling, the most impressive part of his game is the sick striking game he has developed under the tutelage of Cung Le. The speed of his hands last Saturday was remarkable.
However, he hasn’t ever really faced any top competition before. Now, he’s going to go up against Josh Koscheck. “Kos” is one of the best welterweights in the world, and has developed an amazing all around game.
My thoughts on the fight: No idea. I want to say that their wrestling might cancel out, but Koscheck has a much better shot than Johnson. However, Johnson is probably the strongest 170 fighter that there is. That’s why I’m just not sure how this will play out.
I’m pumped for this fight.
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