Former UFC middleweight champion Patrick ‘The Predator’ Côté (16-7) feels that anyone who wants to get back into the Octagon needs to earn that right, not beg for it.
Côté is a year-and-a-half, and three fights, removed from his last stint in the Octagon. The French-Canadian fighter saw his time in the UFC end after three straight losses, which included a defeat to Anderson Silva for the UFC title at UFC 90 after suffering a knee injury in the third round.
Since then, Côté has gone on to win three straight fights under the banner of local promotions in his home Province of Quebec, as he attempts to regain a chance at fighting in the Octagon again.
In a recent podcast, Côté spoke to MMAWeekly Radio about losing respect for fighters who beg for a chance to return to the UFC, in specific former heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia recently took to Twitter to try and get the UFC’s attention, and get a call back to the big show. Cote’s anger at the tactic erupted via his own Twitter account, but he promises it wasn’t necessarily targeted at Sylvia.
Cote was targeting any former UFC fighter that was going the social networking route as opposed to fighting to get back to the Octagon.
“Maybe that was a little bit out of control because that wasn’t a personal attack to Tim Sylvia, but that was just begging to have a chance to go back to the UFC, for me, it’s just a shame. You can’t beg the big organizations like that,” said Cote.
“You’ve been a champion in this organization; you know how things work. You’re not going to go anywhere by begging like that. I was just annoyed about begging, a lot of the begging, and I said loud what a lot of people was thinking. I have nothing against Sylvia. He’s been a great champion. He did a lot in the sport. He did a lot in the UFC. I hope he’s going to be back in the UFC. That’s not the point. The point was just about the begging thing.”
“The only thing you have to do is shut your mouth, win fights, and prove you deserve to be back in the big show by winning fights and by your performance,” Cote stated.
Côté heads to Brazil this coming weekend searching for his fourth straight win as he faces Gustavo Machado (22-8-1) on the main card of the Amazon Forest Combat 2 show in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil on March 31.