Patrick Cote
On Thursday, it was announced that former UFC middleweight contender Patrick ‘The Predator’ Côté (17-7) would be returning to the UFC after four straight victories outside of the Octagon.
Côté is set to replace Rich Franklin who steps up to face Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147 in Brazil, while ‘The Predator’ meets Franklin’s original opponent Cung Le.
The French-Canadian, who maintained his ties with the UFC by acting as the French commentator during live events, was a guest of “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo” on Thursday, along with Le to talk about their upcoming bout.
(Listen to the Podcast by pressing play above)
“I’m pretty excited, especially that they’re bringing me back at a big show, a big fight against a dangerous striker, a dangerous opponent in Cung Le,” the Quebec-native Cote told The MMA Show. “I can’t ask for a better thing.”
“He’s pretty good,” Cote said of Le. “He’s a very dangerous striker, a southpaw guy. He’s more of a kicker than a boxer but he’s well rounded on his feet. He’s a really high-level kickboxer and I’m looking forward to banging with him.”
“I think, in my mind, I’m a more powerful striker than him,” the French Canadian said. “But he’s very unorthodox, has some weird angles, and weird stuff with spinning back kicks and all these things, so for sure I have to be very aware about that, I have to be very careful about not letting my feelings take over my gameplan. I’m very happy to be back in the UFC but I have to do the right thing.”
“Me and Joe Silva, we’re close,” Cote said. “The UFC and I, we have a good relationship. I’m still working with them as a French commentator, I’m the official voice of the UFC in French. As for fighting, we’ve been talking for a couple months, but I had to put a couple wins under my belt and finish guys, and that’s what I did the last two fights.
“But for sure the fans did help me to get back in the UFC with all the support on Twitter, and I’m very thankful of that.”
Three of Côté’s four wins came against former UFC fighters, including his most recent victory, a first round knockout finish of Gustavo Machado in Brazil this past March at a AFC 2 show. In the UFC ‘The Predator’ holds a 4-7 record in his four stints with the promotion.