The UFC Fight Night 62 card has a new co-main event. After Ben Saunders pulled out of the card’s co-main event slot opposite Erick Silva over the weekend, the UFC has called upon veteran Josh Koscheck on short notice and now “Kos” will take on “Indio” in less than two weeks. The switch of opponents was first revealed by Combate. UFC Fight Night 62 takes place March 21 at Ginasio do Maracanazinho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the main event of the evening is a five-round welterweight bout between Demian Maia and Ryan LaFlare. I was really looking forward to Saunders vs. Silva — who wasn’t? — and was incredibly disappointed when I heard Saunders had to pull out with an injury. “Killa B” has looked sensational since returning to the UFC last summer and the fight against Silva was a fight that would have been extremely exciting. So to see Saunders pull out with an injury, it’s incredibly disappointing, but in a rough sport like MMA injuries are bound to happen and rip apart some of the fights the fans were really looking forward to. As far as the Koscheck vs. Silva replacement matchup, I just don’t like this fight at all and honestly, I don’t think it should be sanctioned. Koscheck has lost four fights in a row and recently came back after a year-long-plus layoff, losing via second-round submission to Jake Ellenberger at UFC 184. I know he was choked out and not knocked out, but Koscheck looked terrible in the fight and at his age, with his inactivity level, with him coming off of three-straight stoppage losses, and with him having a bad eye, I don’t think he should be fighting anymore, especially not on short notice and especially not against a guy who possesses the kind of knockout power Silva does. The other thing is, Benson Henderson went on Twitter and asked for the fight with Silva. I think the UFC should have given him this opportunity since a fight opposite Silva would have been incredible, but I guess they figured Henderson would beat Silva, while they probably think Koscheck has a good chance of losing. So in order to protect their asset in Silva, they are giving him an easier fight in Koscheck and keeping him away from a guy who would most likely beat him in Henderson. As far as the line for Koscheck vs. Silva goes, I expect Silva to be a solid favorite here, probably in the -250 range or somewhere in there as Koscheck is bound to get some respect from the bettors regardless of his recent performance against Ellenberger. But although Koscheck has a chance to weather the early storm, take this fight to the deep waters, and grind Silva out like Jon Fitch did a few years ago, I really think Silva has a good shot of getting a knockout here, and I’ll almost definitely be picking the Brazilian to pick up the win come next week.
