Two weeks shy of his bout against Ben Saunders, at UFC Fight Night 62, Erick Silva had to make huge changes in his training camp when he found out an injured 'Killa B' Ben Suanders was replaced by Josh Koscheck.
Astounded by the news, the Brazilian needed to redo his whole strategy in less than a month in order to face a completely different adversary, but he guarantees everything is now in place for Saturday night.
"My first opponent (Saunders) is 6’3", a southpaw and mainly a kickboxer. Koscheck, however, is shorter than me, orthodox and a wrestler." Said Silva to Combate. "That’s a huge difference when it comes to practice. Strategically, we had to make some changes, but it won’t be a major problem, because I’ve fought guys like him before. I train everything, so I’m always prepared for surprises".
Aware of his opponent’s wrestling skills, Silva, who has lost to another grinder and former teammate of Koscheck, Jon Fitch, guarantees he’s ready for whatever the former title challenger comes at him with.
"He’ll try to win using his biggest weapon, his wrestling, but he won’t grind me down. I’ve trained for that and it won’t work. My team and I have come up with a strategy to nullify his takedowns and it will prevail. It’s going to be hard punches, knees and kicks for him, all the time. I will beat whoever is in front of me. I want to defeat Koscheck the same way I wanted to defeat Saunders".
Koscheck vs. Silva serves as the co-main event to the Fox Sports 1 televised main event between fellow welterweights Demian Maia and Ryan LaFlare.