Josh Koscheck’s November 2009 battle with Anthony Johnson was one of the year’s most controversial fights of the year. The interesting stoppage issues in that fight paled in comparison to what happened in his UFC 113 fight against Paul Daley.
The winner was to receive a coaching position opposite Georges St. Pierre on the next season of “The Ultimate Fighter” and fight for GSP’s title after the show’s finale aired, so there was clearly a lot at stake at this battle. And emotions definitely came into play.
For the most part, the fight played out exactly as expected. For the better part of the three round battle, Koscheck utilized his superior wrestling to put Paul Daley on his back. With great ground control, Koscheck was largely able to keep Daley on the ground, even though he rarely did much physical damage from the top.
But this was not an ordinary fight. In round one, Paul Daley managed to return to his feet following a Koscheck takedown. Daley threw a knee at Koscheck, who was on his knees, so the referee immediately docked Daley a point and gave Koscheck time to recover. Koscheck sold the injury well, but a replay interestingly showed that the knee–at best–slightly grazed Koscheck’s head. It was hard to fathom that Koscheck was stunned by the shot, and the announcers did not shy away from ripping Koscheck’s “acting.”
After the round, the referee used his review of the replay to remove the point deduction, but it was not as if the issue changed the fact that Koscheck won the round. He won all three rounds 10-9 en route to a 30-27 unanimous decision.
Following the final bell, Koscheck turned his back on Daley and celebrated what was sure to be a unanimous decision victory. Daley walked towards Koscheck, and as Koscheck turned around, Daley threw an actual punch at his opponent. It was an unbelievable moment–certainly not an incident that benefited mixed martial arts just a few weeks after the Strikeforce brawl. The referee tied Daley up and prevented it from going any further, but it was definitely a sour moment.
In his post-fight promo, Koscheck went hardcore heel on the Canadian crowd (which fiercely turned on him after the knee incident), saying that the Penguins will defeat the Canadiens in the NHL playoffs and that he will beat their beloved GSP in the upcoming rematch.
Josh Koscheck defeated Paul Daley via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
