The last time Josh Koscheck was inside the Octagon, he was decimated by Georges St. Pierre at UFC 124 on Dec. 11, 2010.

We're not talking about a close decision defeat that could have gone either way. This was a beating, an embarrassment, an absolute drubbing that lasted for 25-minutes and might as well be referred to as assault.

Koscheck will be the first to tell you this is all true and he badly wants to erase the memory of that cold Canadian night by reestablishing himself as a top dog in the welterweight division.

Hell, he just wants to reestablish himself period. But when contemplating a strategy to reenter the game, he knew he needed a big fight against an even bigger name to really drive his point home.

That's why he asked for fights against middleweights like Chris Leben and Wanderlei Silva. He even requested a bout against Rich Franklin, a light heavyweight, provided he be willing to drop down to 185-pounds.

But as "Kos" blogs at Sportsnet.ca, he got lucky when a shot at Matt Hughes opened up on Sept. 24 at the UFC 135 fight card.

I'll tell you exactly why I went out there on Twitter to try to force Matt Hughes into a corner and accept this fight with me at UFC 135 next Saturday. Here's what is up: Matt Hughes used to be one of the best. Used to be. Right now he's nowhere near even one of the best in the world. Where is he ranked? Probably not in a lot people's top 10.

But he's still got that name and is a two-time champion, and beating a name like that in my comeback fight means something.

That's the funny thing. I was prepared to fight middleweights like Chris Leben or even a light heavyweight like Rich Franklin (as long as we met at middleweight) because I know I need a big name to come back to fight.

Instead, I got lucky to get Hughes, a guy who cannot beat my style and he knows it. He can't strike with me and he can't use his wrestling against me like he could some of the guys he's been beating.

That's my thinking, I've been out for a long while. I need a big fight, a big name and I know I can look devastating again against Hughes and it will be a highlight of the night.

To Koscheck's thinking, not only is Hughes a big name that he can put under his belt, he's also a dream fight stylistically.

Better striking? Check. Better wrestling? Check. Youth and killer instinct? Mate.

A win might not earn Koscheck another crack at the welterweight championship and, in fact, he may be a long way from ever challenging for that belt again.

But beating a legend in his first fight back would go a long way in making fight fans the world over remember exactly what made him so dangerous to begin with. 

Losing to "GSP" isn't the end of the world, after all.