A little confusion over the weekend as Josh Koscheck proclaimed himself the number one contender to GSP's title in the face of the so-called number one contender, Dan Hardy. A lot of people have opined that Hardy hasn't faced the kind of competition required to get a title shot in such a stacked division, but Mike Swick was another top contender and his fight was a title eliminator, so what else can you do? There are other guys out there that have put wins together since losing to GSP as well. So who deserves it most? Jon Fitch ("John Fish") -- lost to GSP at UFC 87; -- won 16-straight including 8-straight in the UFC (tied record at time, since passed by Anderson Silva); -- won twice since defeating Akihiro Gono and Paulo Thiago, both by unanimous decision; -- won't fight Josh Koscheck or Mike Swick; -- scheduled to face Mike Pierce at UFC 107 instead of injured Thiago Alves; -- is "unfinishable"; Thiago Alves ("Tee-ah-go Hal-vez") -- lost to GSP at UFC 100, hasn't fought since; -- currently nursing a knee injury instead of fighting Jon Fitch at UFC 107; -- had a 7-fight winning streak in the UFC after losing to Fitch at Ultimate Fight Night 5 years back; -- recently defeated Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes; -- fights at 208-lbs., an arbitrary number announced by Mike Goldberg; Matt Serra ("Matt Ser-ruh") -- defeated GSP at UFC 69, lost to GSP at UFC 83; -- lost to Matt Hughes at UFC 98 in split decision some contested; -- was promised a rubber match by GSP in NYC if the UFC wanted it; -- scheduled to fight Frank Trigg in early 2010; -- likes pasta and impressions; Matt Hughes ("Matt Toos") -- defeated GSP at UFC 50, lost to GSP at UFC 65 & 79; -- beat former champion Matt Serra at UFC 98; -- no fight scheduled; -- GSP said he would like to fight him again (best-of-five) because he was his hero; -- lost to Thiago Alves at UFC 85; -- only wants to fight well-known opponents he'd be favoured against; -- wants you to read this Bible verse and get back to him; Josh Koscheck ("Josh Koscheck") -- lost to GSP at UFC 74; -- recently defeated Frank Trigg and Anthony Johnson; -- has declared himself the top contender; -- kind of looks like a mop before it's been used; Dan Hardy ("Dan Ardy") -- 7-fight winning streak; -- recently defeated Mike Swick in a title eliminator fight; -- is currently the next challenger for GSP, likely will fight him in March; -- bit of a rapscallion; Paulo Thiago ("Polo Tee-ah-go") -- knocked out Josh Koscheck at UFC 95; -- got decision'd by Jon Fitch at UFC 100; -- rebounded to punish Jacob Volkmann in a variety of ways at UFC 106; -- is 12-1 with seven stoppages; -- gets into gunfights with drug dealers in Rio in his time off; -- probably thinks you're a pussy; Paul Daley ("Paul Daily") -- knocked out Martin Kampmann at UFC 103; -- recent losses to Nick Thompson and Jake Shields; -- admits he isn't ready to fight GSP but would do so anyway; -- wears sunglasses at night (so he can); Other ("Dee Udder") -- probably not with the UFC at the moment; -- not really worth mentioning; -- thinks you look fat in that.
You also forgot to include Josh Koscheck is 3-2 in his last 5 fights, does that record deserve a title shot?
Gatekeeper. That's why Johnson was fighting him. Koscheck needs another big win first. Unfortunately there isn't one out there for him at the moment.
In reality nobody is really worthy right now, but someone needs to do it so Hardy is as good as anybody in my opinion. He's riding a bit of a hot streak beating two well known guys in Marcus Davis and Mike Swick, so there's some marketable wins right there. Koscheck's chance was blown when he took that late notice fight against Thiago in my opinion, he'll need a one more win against a solid opponent before people forget that he already lost to a top contender that lost to the champ.
I know he was in the list, but that's a 'fact'/point I would have included in his mini-bio you wrote up
I agree chocolove, if Kos beats Thiago, he'd be the #1 contender IMO, but that was stinging loss to a relative unknown. Hardy is the best choice who has not lost to GSP yet.
The correct answer is none, I reckon, so go ahead and say that. But I want to see GSP fight so Hardy is good enough.
Koscheck could fight Davis, Saunders, or Almeida but none of those fights really push him into contender status. Koscheck vs Hazelett? Stun Gun? Matt Brown? again these aren't exactly contender status fights, none of them would even be that interesting.
The UFC would be pretty cruel to feed Marcus Davis to Josh Koscheck now. I think Dana will force him to wait the requisite 2-3 months. It's one thing to be willing to fight every month--but he'd be taking the spot of another fighter in the process, most likely. It's not Joe Silva's job to get Kos as many fights as he desires.
