The assembled masses in Quebec City on Wednesday won’t go down as the biggest crowd in UFC history. But those who were there for the TUF Nations Finale were Patrick Cote’s people.
And Cote gave the people what they came to see. The veteran from Rimouski, Quebec won a back and forth coaches fight against Australia’s Kyle Noke. The judges’ scores were 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27 in a unanimous decision.
Fueled by the crowd’s adrenaline, Cote got off to a strong start in round one, pressing the action and getting the best of things both standing and on the ground. While Noke worked for submissions from the bottom, Cote worked a fair amount of ground and pound and decisively won the round.
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The second round was a back-and-forth affair and was likely the spot where Noke took a round on two scorecards. Noke dazed Cote with a huge knee and followed up with a series of punches, causing to cover up and back off. But Cote managed to shake it off and regain control of the fights by round’s end.
The pace slowed somewhat in round three, but Cote sealed things with a late takedown.
For his part, the veteran Cote, who made his UFC debut at UFC 50 in 2004, gave credit to his team, who placed all four finalists in the two TUF Finale championship bouts.
“I don’t want to take all the credit, all my team did very well,” said Cote (20-8), who has won three straight and seven of eight. “Finally we have a Canadian winner of the Ultimate Fighter.”
The classy Noke simply took his hat off to his opponent.
“Patrick is a a great opponent,” Noke said. “I hit him with everything and he just looked at me.”