(Cote will be looking to punch his ticket back to the UFC in Quebec in 2011, where he will fight for Ringside MMA.)
Former number one UFC middleweight contender Patrick "The Predator" Cote will not have to travel far for his next fight.
CagePotato.com has learned from a source close to the situation that the popular French-Canadian fighter has signed with the Quebec-based Ringside MMA organization and will make his promotional debut against a yet-to-be-decided opponent March 25 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Cote was unceremoniously dropped by the UFC after logging three losses in a row — two of which came after a year-and-a-half layoff following a pair of knee surgeries he required after injury forced him to prematurely bow out of his UFC 90 championship bout with Anderson Silva at the 39-second mark of the third round. Looking to rebuild his record at home so he can make it back to the Octagon one day, "The Predator" apparently decided that Ringside would provide him with the best stage to do just that considering they have a pay-per-view agreement in place with Canal Indigo in Quebec and are also negotiating a Canadian TV deal.
Born out of the ashes of the widely popular but now-defunct TKO Major League MMA organization, Ringside has made moves in Quebec to take over where its former partner left off, and by moving its events into the Bell Centre in 2011 and by signing leading Canadian talent like Cote the promotion is on the right track.
*UPDATE* Cote denied the signing tonight via Twitter, but our source (who isn’t Cote) insists that the deal is done and that "The Predator" will indeed debut at the March 25 show. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out.