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July 7, 2008
Koscheck ready for next step
Waynesburg native Josh Koscheck will attempt to take another step toward becoming a champion in mixed martial arts fighting when he faces Chris Lytle Saturday in Las Vegas as part of UFC-86, which will be shown on pay per view.
Koscheck is coming off of a second-round TKO of Dustin Hazelett in Columbus, Ohio in March.
Lytle, who owns a 35-14-4 record, will be a big test for Koscheck. With more than 50 career MMA fights under his belt, he'll have a huge edge in ring experience over Koscheck, who has a 13-2 record.
"My goal isn't to get into a position to challenge for the title, my goal is to win the title - but right now my short-term goal is to beat Chris Lytle," Koscheck told UFC.com. "He's the next guy that I've got to fight, and I can't look past him because he's a tough guy. He's had almost 50 fights. So for me, I've got to win one fight at a time and, hopefully, get an opportunity in the future to get a chance to redeem a loss to Georges St-Pierre or whoever has that belt."
St-Pierre defeated Koscheck in a unanimous decision last August and has since gone on to claim the welterweight championship - a fact that is certainly not lost on the 30-year-old Koscheck.
Koscheck realizes that if he had beaten St-Pierre in that match, it could very well be him holding the title belt. And that remains his ultimate goal.
The fight is on the undercard of the main event, a light heavyweight title bout between Forrest Griffin and champion Quinton Jackson. But Koscheck's fight is the sixth on the 10-fight card, meaning it will definitely be part of the pay-per-view telecast.Source: KosMMA.com
