It’s been over a year and a half since last we saw UFC welterweight Louis Cosce in action, but that will change next month.
Cosce (7-1) is set to return against Trevin Giles, at a UFC Fight Night event on September 17 (originally announced for the 10th, the bout was pushed back a week when UFC 279 switched dates).
With a date and opponent, Trevin Giles, firmly in hand, Dana White’s Contender Series alum Cosce is excited to make his return.
“Sh*t man, it feels good. I was supposed to fight in April, I felt pretty good for that one, then last second I got COVID, which sucked,” he told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview. “That put me out for a minute; I was trying to get back in sooner but I kind of took what I could get. I’m just excited to get back out there, it has been a minute.”
After the turmoil of the past two years, going from a big win on the Contender Series, to losing his UFC debut against Sasha Palatnikov — who he would later train with — and then the cancelled fight in April, Cosce added that he’s “just hoping everything happens for a reason.”
Luckily, Cosce has been smart with his money over the years, so despite the time off from fighting, he was able to get by. Now, he’s laser-focused on Giles, who will enter the fight off back-to-back losses. A situation that could see Giles even more dangerous than usual.
“You can’t take anybody lightly, definitely in this game, with 4oz gloves,” Cosce agreed. “He’s a hitter, that’s for sure. He looks like he has some jiu-jitsu. I think he’s probably looking at it like that too, that his back is against the wall. I’m definitely not taking it lightly.”
Despite Giles having far more UFC fighters under his belt, having been with the promotion since 2017, Cosce wasn’t entirely shocked to land the fight.
“I wasn’t too surprised about it honestly, he’s coming off a few losses and I think this is his second fight at welterweight. I don’t think things were going his way at 185, so he made the cut to 170,” he observed. “But that’s still a big cut. A lot of times it doesn’t really help cutting that much more weight, but we’ll find out what happens.”
Cosce himself doesn’t cut too much weight, he added. “I probably walk around 190, 192 right now. When I start getting close to the fight, I’ll probably go into fight week anywhere 8 to 12 pounds [above contracted weight]. And I’ll cut most of that the day before weigh-ins, or even the day of.”
This past weekend, Louis Cosce was in the corner of brother Orion at UFC 277 — which means he had a front row seat for his big brother’s big win against Blood Diamond. “It was awesome, the vibes and everything. It was cool. The ceremonial weigh-ins, the way they did it, the UFC really goes all out.” For Cosce, it was actually his first time at a UFC event with fans. Or pretty much any event outside of the card he fought on. And while he admits that he gets more nervous to watch his brother fight than for his own bouts, Louis definitely wants to share a card with his brother, just like they did on the Contender Series.
“After watching that PPV, eventually that has to happen. It’s electrifying, and that would be historic for me and him,” Cosce exclaimed. “To go from where we came from to fighting on the big show like that on a card together would be awesome. Regardless of winning or losing — the most important part would be to win, but to come from like nothing all the way to there would be f*cking awesome.”
Louis Cosce faces Trevin Giles on Saturday, September 17, 2022 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
