Josh Koscheck's dialed down the rhetoric for this fight. As he explained at the presser on Wednesday, he took this fight with only 19 days to prepare by fight time. There just isn't a sufficient window for instigation or agitation in a way where a three-month window provides all sorts of latitude.
For this fight, it's all business. Koscheck seems inspired to continue fighting, maximizing whatever skills and name value he has left. There seems to be a tacit understanding a title is probably never going to be in his future. But if he can get big name opponents in big fights that dole out large sums of money, Koscheck is your man.
And he doesn't care if they are at welterweight or middleweight. "For me, I've got a couple of good fights left in me whether it's at 170 or 185 [pounds]. At this point in my career, I want to make them big fights," Koscheck said.
"A win's a win, man," Koscheck contended. "I don't care if its against a 12-year old. I like winning. At the end of the day when they raise that hand it sure feels good whether it's a little kid or Matt Hughes."
Koscheck also goes on to note that while 'things didn't go [his] way' at UFC 124 against Georges St. Pierre, the beauty of MMA is you get the opportunity to prove yourself in your next fight. Koscheck's the heavy favorite, so there isn't a great deal to prove, per se. But to get back on the competitive horse after the damage he suffered in Montreal is a challenge in and of itself. That he still has the desire to capitalize on what athletic gifts he has left is a positive sign. Now all he has to do is actualize that talent and beat Matt Hughes.