Paulo Thiago Says Luck Had Nothing To Do With His KO Of Kos.

Josh Koscheck was a man on a mission coming into his fight with Paulo Thiago at UFC 95. He was fighting in his fifth bout in a year and had just knocked out Yoshiyuki Yoshida in brutal fashion at the Fight For The Troops card two months earlier.

Thiago was not only fighting for the first time in the UFC but for the first time outside of his native country in 10 career fights. The young Brazilian was known for his outstanding jiu-jitsu and early on in the fight Koscheck seemed to be in control landing some nice strikes and he looked to be setting Thiago up for the kill. Then it happened, Thiago sent Kos crashing down to the canvas and back down to earth with a well placed right uppercut, left hook combination that stopped the bout right then and there. Koscheck was pissed and claimed he was good to go but he was out and a new name was thrown into the welterweight mix.

Many have claimed it was luck that was on the side of Thiago but not according to an interview he did recently with Fighter’s Only Magazine. In the interview Thiago claims he knew all along what Koscheck’s tendencies would be. He says that he had watched tapes and combined with hard work and a lot of time training he was able to pull off the upset.

The interview goes on to talk about his upcoming bout with Koscheck’s teammate at AKA, Jon Fitch and how Thiago believes Fitch is a more complete fighter than Koscheck. With two well timed punches the man from Brazil not only sent himself soaring in the welterweight rankings he also landed a spot on the most coveted card of the year, UFC 100. Thiago is looking to utilize his world class jiu-jitsu in this one as he believes Fitch will be more apt to try and take him down. That may have been the problem with Koscheck after the Yoshida fight, he seems to have fallen in love with the knockout.