Josh Koscheck Leaves Aka Dana Now Wants Jon Fitch Vs Koscheck

LAS VEGAS – UFC 143 winner Josh Koscheck (17-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) dropped the first hint of trouble at this past Thursday's pre-fight press conference, when he talked about the importance of "Team Me."

Following his split-decision win over Mike Pierce at Saturday's event in Las Vegas, Koscheck opened the flood gates.

"I'll be training out of Fresno for now," Koscheck told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com). "I'm no longer affiliated with some of the people at the gym that I've been training at."

"That gym," of course, is American Kickboxing Academy, where Koscheck has long honed his craft. Koscheck made his way up the ranks alongside fellow AKA welterweights Jon Fitch (23-4-1 MMA, 13-2-1 UFC) and Mike Swick, and the family feel of the team lead to controversial fallouts with UFC president Dana White when the triumvirate refused to fight each other.

Recently, however, there have been rumblings of some discontent. Longtime AKA grappling coach Dave Camarillo left the gym in late 2011, and it appears Koscheck is now doing the same.

"It was a tough camp," Koscheck said. "This is my last camp there. I'm going to do my own thing."

Koscheck didn't have his best performance on Saturday night. Pierce controlled the early action with his grinding clinch game and actually got the best of the first-round striking, as well. However, Koscheck came alive in the final two frames, scoring a few takedowns of his own and picking up the pace with his hands.

He still didn't really pull away from his opponent, but he did do enough to earn a razor-thin split-decision win. After the fight, Koscheck admitted he wasn't at his best when the opening bell rang.

"I kind of knew coming into this fight it was going to be slow-paced – he was going to put me up against the cage and kind of try to get a decision," Koscheck said. "To be honest, I really didn't have too much hype to fight him. This was like, 'Alright, we'll fight,' and it showed tonight.

"He came out and fought well. I pulled it out, I think, with just the wrestling aspect of it at the end of the rounds there and got the takedowns."

Koscheck currently owns an AKA affiliate gym in Fresno, Calif., and it's unclear if the apparent ongoing conflicts will affect any type of licensing agreement with the two gyms. But when Koscheck hinted of the split, hardcore fans immediately began to wonder if the once-taboo matchups between AKA's longtime fighters might finally become a reality.

White admitted it instantly crossed his mind, as well.

"That's what I whispered to him," White told MMAjunkie.com. "I said, 'Now I'm doing the Jon Fitch fight.' That's what I said to him. He said, 'Good luck with that.'"

White, who said he was a little disappointed in a "flat" Koscheck performance, later clarified he was just joking, but he also didn't rule out the potential for arranging a Fitch-Koscheck meeting at some point.

"If the fight made sense, because there was a time when those two were both going [up], but if the fight made sense, yeah, I'd try to make it," White said. "I wouldn't do it just to do it."

With the win, Koscheck is now 5-1 in his past six fights, with the lone loss coming in a December 2010 title fight against champ Georges St-Pierre. His next step is unclear, though he's suggested potential matchups at 185 pounds while also angling for a shot at new interim champ Carlos Condit.

In the meantime, Koscheck settled on looking for silver linings and said he's hoping to quickly get back to work.

"Within about a year-and-a-half now, I've only fought a total of four minutes," Koscheck said. "It was good for me to get in there and get a good 15 minutes back in and get my groove going and get my pace. I'm looking for the next opportunity to fight again."

For complete coverage of UFC 143, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

With Josh Koscheck's AKA relations strained, is Jon Fitch fight finally possible? | MMAjunkie.com