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Koscheck wouldn't mind fighting Penn

LAS VEGAS – UFC president Dana White is almost resigned to the fact that his lightweight champion, B.J. Penn, is going to leave the division to chase the welterweight belt.

White has long urged Penn to resist the tendency to jump from the division and concentrate on cleaning out the 155-pound division. After Penn's recent one-sided victories over Joe "Daddy" Stevenson and Sean Sherk, though, White doesn't have a challenger on the horizon who can keep Penn from abandoning the division.

White doesn't realize that perhaps, indeed, he does have a challenger who can hold Penn's interest at 155 and who could fight on even terms for five rounds with the gifted Hawaiian.

Josh Koscheck, the former NCAA Division I wrestling champion who has become one of the world's top welterweights, will meet Chris Lytle on Saturday in one of the key undercard bouts at UFC 86 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

A win would move Koscheck another step closer to a second shot at a UFC title. But instead of it being a rematch with St. Pierre, it could just be that Koscheck might get his crack at Penn.

Koscheck was discussing his desire for another shot at a world title, but said he didn't feel an overwhelming desire to defeat Georges St. Pierre, the reigning champion and a man who throttled him at UFC 74.

"I just want to be a world champion, whether it be at 155, 170, 185, wherever," Koscheck said. "I believe I have a lot of fights left in me. With my work ethic and the training partners I have and the coaches I have, I believe some day that dream is going to come true."

Koscheck has been fighting as a welterweight since he turned professional in 2004. He won the 174-pound NCAA Division I title in 2001 and has a lean body which would seem to preclude a drop to 155.

Koscheck, though, has long had to cut weight and said it wouldn't be out of the question that he could move to lightweight. If the carrot at the end of the stick was a title bout against Penn, his friend and a man many consider the most physically gifted mixed martial artist in the world, Koscheck wouldn't hesitate to say yes.

"You never know," he said, beaming, when confronted about his ability to make the lightweight limit of 155 pounds. "If people would want to see me fight B.J. Penn at 155 for the title, because there is really nobody there for him to fight, I'd do it."

Koscheck said he "loves B.J. Penn to death" and revealed that he once served as Penn's wrestling coach. Koscheck said Penn contacted him prior to his UFC 48, when Penn was moving up to challenge Matt Hughes for the welterweight belt on Jan. 31, 2004.

Penn needed to work on his wrestling because Hughes was a powerful wrestler, so he reached out to Koscheck, who had been one of the collegiate game's most dominant performers.

That, however, wouldn't stop him from signing to fight Penn for the belt if White were to offer him the chance.

"I know B.J. very well, but business is business," Koscheck said. "We're friends, but at the end of the day, it's about making money together. If the fans would want to see it, I'd suck it up and I'd live that life to where I'd do whatever I have to do to make 155."

The bout could turn out to be one of the biggest of 2009, but Koscheck has the not so insignificant task of getting past Lytle on Saturday.

He bluntly said he's never seen Lytle fight, nor has he watched one of his tapes. Nevertheless, Koscheck is confident of victory.

He was thrashed by St. Pierre at UFC 74 and was outwrestled badly. He learned in that fight how little he really knew about mixed martial arts fighting.

"In a straight wrestling match, I'd kick Georges' ass, I really believe that," Koscheck said. "But mixed martial arts is different. You have to be ready for his hands. You have to be ready for his feet, his knees. It's a lot different. It's way different. They're totally opposite. Wrestling is only one dimension of the 10 that create mixed martial arts. You can be successful in one area, but nowadays, that's not enough."

And so Koscheck, who despite the beating he took from St. Pierre is still ranked among the top five at welterweight in all major ratings, including MMA Weekly and Sherdog.com, made it a point to become more complete.

It wasn't hard, he said, because of the talent surrounding him at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.

Among his training partners were top 10-ranked fighters such as Jon Fitch, Mike Swick, Jake Shields and Josh Thomson. Each brought something different to the game and Koscheck said he's made it a point to try to take from each of their styles.

Gaining that kind of experience, he said, will help him convert from a wrestler who fights MMA into a truly versatile mixed martial artist.

"Before, I was just a wrestler or, I'd throw punches and then shoot," Koscheck said. "I wouldn't call what I was doing (before) mixed martial arts. I'd call it wrestling and setting up your punches to be able to shoot. Now, after that fight, I understood how Georges put everything together.

"He's become a real mixed martial arts. One of the things I've been focusing on to put my jiu-jitsu with my wrestling, my wrestling with my striking, so I could become a more complete fighter."

If he completes that transition, Koscheck would be a prime candidate for a lightweight title bout with Penn. White is resigned to having Penn face the winner of the St. Pierre-Fitch bout, which will be at UFC 87, sometime later this year.

But Penn has said more than once that he'll go where the fights are best and that even if he goes back to welterweight for a fight, it doesn't mean he's abandoning lightweight.

That would be a dream for Koscheck, who said he simply wants a chance to be able to put a belt around his waist.

"What are you in this business for, to make money and to win a title," Koscheck said. "Usually, they go hand in hand. A fight with B.J. would be like a dream for me."