Cote looking to start best comeback ever
Patrick Cote hit a zenith. A five-fight winning streak earned him a shot at middle champion Anderson Silva at UFC…
Patrick Cote hit a zenith. A five-fight winning streak earned him a shot at middle champion Anderson Silva at UFC 90 in October 2008. All he needed to do was defeat a fighter widely considered one of the best in the entire world, a tall task for elite warriors and ones eventually proven beneath Silva’s Olympus stature. Though Cote was eating a course of the Spider’s best shots, he took ’em, blows that would have spelled curtains for lesser men. He became the first UFC fighter to reach the third round against the dominant champion, his chances still alive before fate decided to intervene and scream, Screw you.
Cote’s right knee blew out 39 seconds into the round, giving the fight to Silva, and endured surgeries to repair his ACL and MCL that kept him away from the Octagon for 18 months and set him back a long year-and-a-half and tumbling down the division pecking order. It was during that heart-ripping period when Cote created a new motivation, one he’ll take into his return bout May 8 in Montreal at UFC 113.
It was just bad luck in the bad time, Cote said. Today I feel that I’m a better fighter than when I fought Silva. I want to do the best comeback in UFC history.