The rumors have been mounting ever since the infamous "Jon Fitch is out of the UFC" incident that his American Kickboxing Academy teammate Josh Koscheck would be the next fighter in Dana White's crosshairs.
We have two pieces of evidence. First, Franklin McNeil of the NewarK Star-Ledger went on ESPN's MMA Live and said that Koscheck has no plans to sign the UFC merchandising agreement (HT BE reader lbk):
"If he loses - and even if he wins - this may the last fight he has in the UFC," said McNeil. "As far as I know, he hasn’t signed the licensing agreement and has no intention of signing it."
Then on yesterday's the SavageDog show the following claims were made: (HT Nick Thomas):
1: That Javier Mendez (Owner of AKA) is the matchmaker for Strikeforce.
2: Savage said that NBC & Strikeforce are in talks to have their first show next year live on NBC.
3: He said they want to go all out with Cung Le, Frank Shamrock, Josh Koscheck, Cain Velasquez, Josh Thompson and Misaki.
4: He said that Koscheck could make more money at Strikeforce, especially if they get on TV than he is making in the UFC.
This is a very interesting scenario. Koscheck has not yet ascended to title contention in the UFC, but he is a very well known fighter and a top five welterweight. He would be a great pickup for Strikeforce.
This is the first time I've heard of Strikeforce being in direct competition with the UFC for a fighter.
MMA Weekly spoke to Koscheck and he put out the following statement
According the representatives close to the fighter, he has simply chosen to wait until after his fight to address any and all situations regarding contracts because he did not want a distraction while he was in the final weeks of his training camp getting ready for the fight.
That seemingly puts a lot of cold water on the rumors, but it sounds to me very much like the negotiations about Josh Kosheck's future are just beginning.