Josh Koscheck vs Thiago Alves Fight Prediction Analysis

First, its very cool of Josh Koscheck to step up on short notice and replace the injured Diego Sanchez. Koscheck will fight Thiago “Pitbull” Alves who is a powerful muay thai striker who has great momentum with recent upsets: TKO victories over top contenders Karo “The Heat” Parisyan and former champion Matt Hughes.

If Alves wins this fight, then he can boost himself to the top level of contenders for the Welterweight title shot. Thiago Alves has lot of knockout power in his punches and fierce Muay Thai knee strikes. Standing up would be the best strategy for Alves and make Koscheck work for any takedowns. Alves needs to sprawl, clinch and punish with knees. In addition, Alves is relatively big for a Welterweight.

Josh Koscheck has probably the best wrestling with superior takedowns. He is relentless and has proven to be a dominant force when he literally runs through his opponents for takedowns. Once he takes an opponent down, he overwhelms them and will stay in the dominant position. In his early days, Koscheck was known to have the “lay and pray” offense with smothering control top position of his opponent. What’s really significant is that Koscheck has consistently improved his stand up. He has progressed immensely with each fight and his kickboxing training has made him into a very impressive striker.

I give Josh Koscheck the advantage in this fight. He has insane takedown skill and is far superior on the ground than Alves. Koscheck has the experience to keep Alves’ strikes at a safe distance with his own formidable counter-striking game. I would look for Koscheck to capitalize on openings for takedowns to ground and pound. He just needs to be wary of Alves’ knee strikes. I predict for Koscheck to win via unanimous decision.