Former NCAA D1 Wrestling Champion Josh Koscheck spent more than a decade in the UFC’s welterweight division. His time was filled with controversy and triumph and there was never a dull moment. Now with Bellator, his fights have a whole new meaning and a whole different feel.

It’s been nearly two years since the submission defeat to Erick Silva concluded his time with the UFC, which is good for the longest layoff between fights in his career. Enough time for now-Bellator competitor Josh Koscheck look back on his career and re-evaluate what fighting means to him in his life.

Koscheck’s career as a heel in the UFC was filled with some of the promotion’s most successful events and produced some of its most controversial moments. That time culminated with a five-fight losing streak, one of the longest in UFC history.

“I’ll tell you what, I fought some tough son of a bitches back then,” Koscheck said in an interview with Cage Pages. “All of those guys are tough. Three of those guys (in the losing streak) Woodley, Lawler, and Hendricks are tough, tough guys…I was fighting some of the best of the best in the game throughout my whole career.”

To refresh your memory, those are the last three champions of the UFC’s welterweight division. However, that’s not a circumstance that eats at “Kos,” rather, it’s indicative of the dynamic nature of the sport that the welterweight division in the UFC embodies.

The post-GSP era has put this on full display. Since St. Pierre vacated the title in 2013 the belt has been successfully defended a grand total of two times. Koscheck even praised St. Pierre as a “genius” for stepping away from the game when he did (interview conducted before yesterday’s news).

“As of late, Hendricks hasn’t looked that great but that’s just part of the game, you go through those changes and it’s just a changing of the guard. Hendricks was on fire for a while, then it was him and Lawler, then it was Lawler and now it’s Woodley and who’s next? Is it Wonderboy’s time? When you’re fighting at that level you’re fighting studs every time…everybody is like ‘oh you lost a couple of fights in a row’ but that can change any second look at Robbie Lawler’s career, he wasn’t the greatest when the came to the UFC than he caught on fire… this stuff changes on a dime.”

For his part in the division’s history, Kos owns a win over now light heavyweight title contender Anthony Johnson, two battles with Georges St. Pierre, and one of the most controversial moments in UFC history in which Paul Daley sucker-punched him after the final bell of his dominant unanimous decision win.

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Now with Bellator, the feel is a bit different. For a guy who has focused a lot on putting together runs in the division and building momentum there’s nothing even being considered other than this fight. A fighter that was notorious for trash talking entering his bouts, he’s solely appreciative of the opportunity to step in the cage.

“I’m truly blessed to get the opportunity to fight again with Bellator,” Kos expressed. “They didn’t have to take a chance on me, it’s kind of cool to see that here I am, 39-years-old getting the chance to fight again… I’ve learned so much over the years and this is just another fight for me, I’m just going to go out there and compete like I always do and try to get my hand raised.”

While he’s always been an athlete that is very analytical and aware of the happenings in the division he’s competing in, that’s all irrelevant now. The hunt for the title that generated his hunger for so many years isn’t necessarily there and the motivation is totally different. He’s retrospective of what he’s done and simply enjoying the moments approaching him.

“I have to be real I don’t know if I have one, or two, or three fights left. I’m 39-years-old… I want to be able to have a brain and I want to be able to run my company when I’m all set and done… The training is tough. It is a young man’s sport and I realize that. I’ll be here for a little bit but it ain’t gonna be that long, I don’t think I’ll have that big of an effect on the welterweight division at Bellator.”

The brutality of the sport is a secret to nobody, and with the impact we now know that concussions can have on the brain long term, it’s certainly responsible to proceed with caution in the latter stages of a career. Koscheck’s goal for this fight is simple:

“Get my hand raised, that’s it. That’s all I’m looking for.”

After this fight, Koscheck wants to give back to the troops again like he did at UFC Fight for the Troops 1 or with more typical charitable outlets. He wants to start a family at some point and live a healthy, happy, and productive life earning a living outside of fighting in a cage.

While he might not be certain when that post-fighting life will start, the days of “Koscheck the Villan” have already concluded and the fighter that will enter the cage at Bellator 172 will be very different than the man we watched go to war for 10 years.