Johny Hendricks  and  Josh Koscheck good guy vs. bad guy in it’s truest form!

Rich Finaldi here once again for Combat Athlete MMA Johny Hendricks will be facing Josh Koscheck in my home state of New Jersey on May 5th 2012 at the Izod Center when they will be the co-main event to the headliner, Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller the UFC on FOX 3. Here we go Johny Hendricks the ultimate “good guy” versus Josh Koscheck the ultimate “bad guy”. I liken them both to Neo and Agent Smith from the Matrix movies. Neo being good, Agent Smith being bad, but both are very alike in nature. Johny Hendricks and Josh Koscheck both have great wrestling pedigree ,both have great stand up striking ability, and one punch knock out power. Johny Hendricks is coming off a stunning 12 second KO of then number two ranked welterweight Jon Fitch. Johny’s overall record is 12-1 overall with 7 of those wins in the UFC, and 7 of the overall total by way of knockout. Johny is one of these most humble, and classiest guys in the UFC and all of MMA. He does not gloat in his wins, and fully accepts his losses as a learning experience.

How Josh Koscheck differs from Johny Hendricks

Josh Koschek on the other hand likes to amp up the hype with his brashness, and not holding back at all his thoughts on his opponents.  Josh is a great fighter with a 17-5 overall MMA record, 15 of those wins came in the UFC. Josh had a sub par performance against Mike Pierce who Johny Hendricks handled easily. Prior to that Kos made short work of a past prime Matt Hughes. Both of these fighters have a lot to lose and a lot to gain from winning. A win by Johny Hendricks puts him right in the hunt for a title shot against Carlos Condit or Georges St. Pierre, a loss will cause Hendricks to lose the precious ground he’s gained in the division. On the other hand a win for Koscheck will get him right back on track to where he was before fighting GSP, a loss would blot Josh’s name out of the upper tier of the UFC’s welterweight division I would think.

What has Johny Hendricks and Josh Koscheck said regarding their upcoming clash.

Well for starters what compliments has Mr. Koscheck paid towards Johny Hendricks. “The fight didn’t last very long, so I really couldn’t judge how good he is,” Koscheck said at a recent UFC press conference. “I watched the fight and it looked like he threw a lucky punch. He had his eyes closed and it landed.”
Johny responded by saying, “If you really watch it — watch where my eyes are and watch where that punch lands — it couldn’t be any better than that.”  “My eyes were watching the punch. He tried to throw a jab to stop it, but my left hand is a little bit more powerful than a jab. So I would take that any day.”
Josh has also said on twitter, “Now May 5 is coming! Mr lucky punch, Johny was a fat lil boy yesterday in NYC. Better get training kid! Bc I am in shape& it’s not round!

Josh Koscheck does has a method to his madness I believe. All his mockeries and banter are to get into his opponents head.  Johny Hendricks is having none of it. I spoke to Mr. Hendricks on this matter and he laid it on me straight and to the point in his ever polite and respectful way, “If someone needs to use words in approaching their opponents before a fight its because they lack faith in their own abilities to win the fight on fighting alone, an insecurity”. He went on to say, “We are all in this together as fighters we get paid to beat each other up and that’s it”. I take it that he means any trash talk does not help a fighter to win the fight, pretty much common sense to me. One thing I know for sure is that as different as these two fighters are in their approach Johny Hendricks versus Josh Koscheck should be an old fashioned brawl in my Jersey backyard!

Johny Hendricks
Johny Hendricks
Johny Hendricks
Johny Hendricks
Johny Hendricks