Josh Koscheck doesn't mind being perceived as one of the “bad guys” in UFC, especially since it hasn't stopped the cash from rolling in.

"I guess you've got to have somebody be the bad guy,” he told the Associated Press, “and bad guys make a lot of money, too.

Koscheck hasn't been on the audience's good side since his Ultimate Fighter 1 days, although he claims that the public would realize that he's not as villainous as he seems once they meet and get to know him better.  Still, he can expect that many UFC fans who'll be watching tomorrow night's event, UFC 82: Pride of a Champion, won't be giving him a warm reception.

In UFC 82, John Koscheck will face 21-year-old Ohio native Dustin Hazelett in the ring.  The fight serves as his comeback bout, having come off from a loss at UFC 74, in which he went up against Montreal's Georges St. Pierre.

Koscheck, a former NCAA wrestling champion, said that he learned something important from his UFC 74 loss, and that is he has to find a way to better link his varied fighting skills.

"If it was just straight wrestling I'd probably beat by 10 or 15 points, he's not even in the same league in straight wrestling," he said.  "But this sport is about mixed martial arts, it's wrestling, jiu-jitsu, boxing, Muay Thai and everything wrapped in one...  I definitely need to improve in that area where I need to get my wrestling, my boxing, my kickboxing and my jiu-jitsu and everything, and make it complete so I can use it at any given second like a Georges St. Pierre could."

Since losing at UFC 74 in August, Koscheck has been itching to get back into the cage.  He offered himself as a replacement for Matt Serra when the champion withdrew from his December title fight with Matt Hughes, but UFC chose to give the spot to St. Pierre.  He tried two other times to secure a match, but was unsuccessful, which means that he has been in training for six months.

"I'm always looking forward to getting into the cage because that's the fun part," he said.  "The training is the hard and sh*tty part.  Getting in front of the fans, getting on TV, that type of stuff is always the fun part.”


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Associated Press
(Image Courtesy of UFC.com)