On November 21, 2009, Koscheck defeated Anthony Johnson by rear naked choke at 4:47 in the 2nd round. In the first round, Koscheck blocked a knee aimed at his head while he had two knees on the ground. Koscheck went to the ground holding his face, prompting the Referee to step in and deduct a point from Johnson. Commentators accused Koscheck of faking the impact of the knee, which seemed to miss Koscheck's face on the replays. Koscheck has said in multiple interviews that he was reacting to an eye poke, not the knee. In round two, Koscheck poked Johnson in the eye twice leading to Johnson being given time to recover. Because of this, many fans think due to the controversy in both rounds between the fighters, it should've been declared a No Contest. In his post fight interview, he called out Dan Hardy, the #1 contender in the Welterweight Division.