Whatever happened to Canadian MMA?
Patrick Cote on the decline of Canadian MMA: “We don’t have any serious organization to build the next generation. That’s the biggest problem here.”
At one point UFC president Dana White called Canada “The Mecca of MMA.” Now the number of shows there has dropped radically. There are also less UFC events in Canada, particularly top tier ones.
Some fans have blamed the lack of UFC shows for the decline, but, Patrick Cote, blames instead the lack of homegrown promotions capable of pushing fighters up to the elite level.
“The province of Quebec was a Mecca of mixed martial arts in Canada,” he said to Damon Martin for FOX Sports. “We were producing a lot of good fighters. All those guys who had success in the UFC, they fought in Quebec – Mark Hominick, Sam Stout, me, David Louiseau, Georges, and now it’s hard.
“We still have a lot of good guys coming up. We’ve got Olivier Aubin-Mercier, Elias Theodorou, Chad Laprise, those guys are good but they are already in the UFC. Developing those new kids, it’s hard in Canada right now.”
“It’s hard to develop young guys because we don’t have any serious organizations to develop those kids. Before there were a couple of organizations and you were able to fight around the country and put some wins on our records and show that what we are able to do. Now it’s very, very hard.
“We don’t have any serious organization to build the next generation. That’s the biggest problem here.”
“TKO was a top five organization in the world at the time and that was a great place to develop talent. Times are rough. We just need somebody who is serious about it and not all about money because everybody knows when you start a new organization, you’re not going to make a lot of money. The first couple of shows you’re not going to make money and I’m not sure there’s a real serious guy to do that right now.”
“We’re not sure what’s happening with Georges, but for a while now it was only me and Sam Stout that was left from the old Canadian MMA scene and Stout just retired. I feel like I’m alone in my corner as the veteran from the Canadian side.”
“I think I made a great statement in my last fight but that wasn’t enough so I have to make another statement in my fight in Boston. I’m ready for Saunders, we’re ready for him, nothing’s going to surprise us. I wanted a guy in the top 15 for my next fight and they gave me Saunders, but that’s OK. My job is to be in shape and fight the guy in front of me and win the fight.”
Patrick Cote fights Ben Saunders at UFC Fight Night 81 Sunday night, on FOX Sports 1.
