AKA Coaches to Koscheck: Follow Our Plan
Mike Harris Dec 8, 2008
Memo from the American Kickboxing Academy to welterweight Josh
Koscheck: Unlike your last fight against Thiago
Alves, which you lost just six weeks ago at UFC 90, please
follow the game plan for your main event bout against Yoshiyuki
Yoshida at UFC Fight Night 16 “Fight for the Troops” this
Wednesday at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C. You’ll have a
better chance of winning if you do so.
“Josh’s biggest strength is his athletic ability and his mind,” says Javier Mendez, who owns AKA in San Jose, Calif., where Koscheck trains. “The area he needs to work on is maybe to listen to his coaches. That’s my biggest critique on him. It would just be nice if I could have his ear a little bit more.”
Mendez was irked that Koscheck failed to execute the game plan AKA
coaches developed for him for his Oct. 25 fight against the
ferocious Alves, a muay Thai specialist appropriately nicknamed
“Pitbull.” Alves used his vicious striking ability, particularly
kicks, to win a unanimous decision over a gutsy Koscheck, one of
MMA’s best wrestlers -- he’s a former NCAA Division I national
champion -- who has developed into a more complete MMA fighter
since turning professional in 2004.
“I was pissed,” says Mendez, AKA’s head trainer and a former two-time ISKA world kickboxing champion. “We were supposed to stay on the outside, out of the pocket, fire off first and circle out. Instead, Josh stayed in the pocket and chased him down and got hit. If you watch the fight, he got hit with a lot of leg kicks when he was in the pocket. I couldn’t get to him. I was begging him, ‘Please, I don’t want you staying in; let it go.’ And he couldn’t let it go. He had it in his mind what he wanted to do.”
Mendez admits even if Koscheck had followed the game plan for Alves, he might not have necessarily won, given that he took the fight on a short two weeks' notice after Alves’ originally scheduled opponent, Diego Sanchez, bowed out due to a rib injury.
“The fight with Alves, I personally would have wanted more time to train specifically for him,” Mendez says. “We knew what he brought to the game, and he didn’t disappoint at all. Personally, I think that guy is a beast. I’m not taking nothing away from him.”
This time out, Mendez hopes Koscheck will follow the blueprints.
“It just depends on Josh [and] how he wants to fight,” Mendez says. “No matter what I tell Josh, he’s gonna fight the way he wants to fight.”
Without revealing too much, Mendez says the strategy for Koscheck’s bout with Yoshida will, in part, involve Koscheck using his explosive wrestling athleticism to take down the Japanese standout and stay on top.
“Yoshida taking Josh down is also possible with the Judo he has behind him,” Mendez says. “The guy’s very explosive on top, so I would imagine we don’t want to be on the bottom of him.”
“Crazy” Bob Cook, head mixed martial arts trainer at AKA, believes Koscheck “is more compact and stronger” than Yoshida and thus, “he’s just gonna go be the physical guy, just go make it a physical fight.”
Another plus for Koscheck, Cook notes, is that he’s “in fantastic shape,” having quickly recovered from the beating he took in the Alves fight.
“He was a little bruised and banged after the last one,” Cook says, “but he’s trained hard, and he’s good to go.”
Another one of Koscheck’s coaches at AKA, Dave Camarillo, who holds black belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo, agrees with Cook’s assessment.
“Everybody saw that ‘Kos’ took some damage, but he came back,” Camarillo says. “I wouldn’t call them injuries but just some of the bumps and bruises, and as soon as those healed up, he was much better. Most of this game is mental. A lot of people see those kicks land, but ‘Kos’ is strong mentally. He can take a shot.”
Mendez says Koscheck was back in training for Yoshida just a few days after the Alves fight.
“He took a little vacation with his girlfriend, and he was back in the gym with the bum foot and all,” he says. “I think it was crazy, but he’s a fighter.”
What’s more, Koscheck had already started training for Yoshida when he got the call to fill in for Sanchez against Alves. Even so, Cook says it did not really disrupt his preparation for Yoshida.
“He was always kind of training for the Yoshida fight and never really specifically trained for the Alves fight just ’cause there wasn’t time to,” Cook says. “So I would say this was the fight he’s been training for all along.”
Mendez says that, due to the time crunch, Koscheck’s coaches “didn’t alter his training at all for the Alves fight,” even though Yoshida and Alves are different kinds of fighters. Mendez concedes he was not 100 percent behind Koscheck’s decision to accept the Alves fight on such short notice.
“Basically,” Cook says with a laugh, “the Alves fight was part of Josh’s training [for Yoshida].” Camarillo believes the loss to Alves motivated Koscheck to train better for Yoshida.
“Something clicked after that fight, and I just think we’re getting … even though it’s always 100 percent, that 100 percent is more potent,” Camarillo says. “He’s just more on what he needs to do instead of just coming in here and banging heads.”
Camarillo thinks the change in Koscheck’s approach revolves around his desire not to lose back-to-back fights for the first time in his career.
“Coming off a loss, a fighter can go in two different directions,” he says. “He can come down off a loss and have trouble in his training, or he can turn things around, and that’s exactly what ‘Kos’ did.”
Besides Mendez, Cook and Camarillo, AKA instructor Travis Johnson -- a two-time ISKA United States kickboxing champion -- and AKA regulars Mike Swick and Jon Fitch have helped Koscheck train for Yoshida.
Cook says Koscheck works constantly to improve his kickboxing.
“I know that’s the area that he really wants to be able to excel in,” Cook says, “so he’s very motivated to work on his kickboxing all the time.”
Mendez believes that this time out, unlike for the Alves fight, Koscheck has had more than sufficient time to train.
“For Yoshida, I can honestly say, ‘Yeah, he’s ready,’” he says. “I can’t say, ‘Oh, we need more time.’ Is this one gonna be as exciting as the Alves fight? I’m not sure. But I expect a dominant performance from Josh because he really is getting the idea of how to become a complete MMA fighter.”
Now, if Koscheck will just follow the game plan.
“Josh’s biggest strength is his athletic ability and his mind,” says Javier Mendez, who owns AKA in San Jose, Calif., where Koscheck trains. “The area he needs to work on is maybe to listen to his coaches. That’s my biggest critique on him. It would just be nice if I could have his ear a little bit more.”
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“I was pissed,” says Mendez, AKA’s head trainer and a former two-time ISKA world kickboxing champion. “We were supposed to stay on the outside, out of the pocket, fire off first and circle out. Instead, Josh stayed in the pocket and chased him down and got hit. If you watch the fight, he got hit with a lot of leg kicks when he was in the pocket. I couldn’t get to him. I was begging him, ‘Please, I don’t want you staying in; let it go.’ And he couldn’t let it go. He had it in his mind what he wanted to do.”
Alves (16-3), 25, is ranked as the No. 2 welterweight in the world;
Koscheck (11-3), 31, is ranked fourth; Yoshida (10-2) -- who comes
from a judo background but also has a solid stand-up game, with six
knockouts, and dangerous submissions -- is unranked.
Mendez admits even if Koscheck had followed the game plan for Alves, he might not have necessarily won, given that he took the fight on a short two weeks' notice after Alves’ originally scheduled opponent, Diego Sanchez, bowed out due to a rib injury.
“The fight with Alves, I personally would have wanted more time to train specifically for him,” Mendez says. “We knew what he brought to the game, and he didn’t disappoint at all. Personally, I think that guy is a beast. I’m not taking nothing away from him.”
This time out, Mendez hopes Koscheck will follow the blueprints.
“It just depends on Josh [and] how he wants to fight,” Mendez says. “No matter what I tell Josh, he’s gonna fight the way he wants to fight.”
Without revealing too much, Mendez says the strategy for Koscheck’s bout with Yoshida will, in part, involve Koscheck using his explosive wrestling athleticism to take down the Japanese standout and stay on top.
“Yoshida taking Josh down is also possible with the Judo he has behind him,” Mendez says. “The guy’s very explosive on top, so I would imagine we don’t want to be on the bottom of him.”
“Crazy” Bob Cook, head mixed martial arts trainer at AKA, believes Koscheck “is more compact and stronger” than Yoshida and thus, “he’s just gonna go be the physical guy, just go make it a physical fight.”
Another plus for Koscheck, Cook notes, is that he’s “in fantastic shape,” having quickly recovered from the beating he took in the Alves fight.
“He was a little bruised and banged after the last one,” Cook says, “but he’s trained hard, and he’s good to go.”
Another one of Koscheck’s coaches at AKA, Dave Camarillo, who holds black belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo, agrees with Cook’s assessment.
“Everybody saw that ‘Kos’ took some damage, but he came back,” Camarillo says. “I wouldn’t call them injuries but just some of the bumps and bruises, and as soon as those healed up, he was much better. Most of this game is mental. A lot of people see those kicks land, but ‘Kos’ is strong mentally. He can take a shot.”
Mendez says Koscheck was back in training for Yoshida just a few days after the Alves fight.
“He took a little vacation with his girlfriend, and he was back in the gym with the bum foot and all,” he says. “I think it was crazy, but he’s a fighter.”
What’s more, Koscheck had already started training for Yoshida when he got the call to fill in for Sanchez against Alves. Even so, Cook says it did not really disrupt his preparation for Yoshida.
“He was always kind of training for the Yoshida fight and never really specifically trained for the Alves fight just ’cause there wasn’t time to,” Cook says. “So I would say this was the fight he’s been training for all along.”
Mendez says that, due to the time crunch, Koscheck’s coaches “didn’t alter his training at all for the Alves fight,” even though Yoshida and Alves are different kinds of fighters. Mendez concedes he was not 100 percent behind Koscheck’s decision to accept the Alves fight on such short notice.
“Basically,” Cook says with a laugh, “the Alves fight was part of Josh’s training [for Yoshida].” Camarillo believes the loss to Alves motivated Koscheck to train better for Yoshida.
“Something clicked after that fight, and I just think we’re getting … even though it’s always 100 percent, that 100 percent is more potent,” Camarillo says. “He’s just more on what he needs to do instead of just coming in here and banging heads.”
Camarillo thinks the change in Koscheck’s approach revolves around his desire not to lose back-to-back fights for the first time in his career.
“Coming off a loss, a fighter can go in two different directions,” he says. “He can come down off a loss and have trouble in his training, or he can turn things around, and that’s exactly what ‘Kos’ did.”
Besides Mendez, Cook and Camarillo, AKA instructor Travis Johnson -- a two-time ISKA United States kickboxing champion -- and AKA regulars Mike Swick and Jon Fitch have helped Koscheck train for Yoshida.
Cook says Koscheck works constantly to improve his kickboxing.
“I know that’s the area that he really wants to be able to excel in,” Cook says, “so he’s very motivated to work on his kickboxing all the time.”
Mendez believes that this time out, unlike for the Alves fight, Koscheck has had more than sufficient time to train.
“For Yoshida, I can honestly say, ‘Yeah, he’s ready,’” he says. “I can’t say, ‘Oh, we need more time.’ Is this one gonna be as exciting as the Alves fight? I’m not sure. But I expect a dominant performance from Josh because he really is getting the idea of how to become a complete MMA fighter.”
Now, if Koscheck will just follow the game plan.
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