Cote planning another statement at UFC Fight Night

This Sunday at UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz, coming off his Fight of the Night victory over Josh Burkman, Canadian welterweight Patrick Cote will try to earn another convincing victory against veteran Ben Saunders as he looks to stay hot in the division.

“I think I made a statement with my last fight but it wasn’t enough, so I have to do it again,” Cote told TSN.ca. “Yes, I’m going there to make another statement.”

Cote told TSN.ca, back in October when the fight was first announced, that he was hoping to get an opponent in the top 15, but as the date approaches he’s excited about the venue and ready to face the fighter the UFC has matched him against.

“I love Boston, I trained there for three or four years, I love the city,” said Cote. “Saunders is a gamer, he has a lot of skills, it’s an important fight.  It’s going to be the main event of the prelims so we are in a good spot and I’m ready to go.”

“My job is not to make the matchup, my job is to fight a guy they put in front of me, I’m an employee of this business and my job is to get in shape and win fights.”

Saunders enters the bout on a three fight winning streak that most recently includes a split decision victory over Kenny Robertson at UFC on Fox 16, in July of 2015.

Also holding victories over Joe Riggs and Chris Heatherly during his run, Cote feels like he knows exactly what to expect from his 32-year-old opponent.

“Saunders is going to try to use his reach and kick a lot with his back leg that’s what he always does,” said Cote.   “He’s going to try to keep me at distance, if I go inside he’s going to try to work with the clinch.  He doesn’t have really good wrestling but he’s dangerous on his back, if you fall asleep in his guard you’re going to be in trouble.”

Robbie Lawler defended the UFC welterweight title with a controversial split decision victory over Carlos Condit at UFC 195.  Cote, who was watching the fight for RDS, believes the decision should have gone the other way and that the entire event exposed and even bigger problem in MMA.

“I had Condit winning, but there is a real problem with judging in this sport,” said Cote. “In this event there were two or three other fights where the judging was really bad.  It was even more evident in those fights than in the Lawler/Condit fight.  I think it’s time for the commission to put their hands in their pockets and put money on the table to educate those judges because it scares me.”

On Sunday, before the Rimouski, Québec native gets in the Octagon, his Seattle Seahawks will be in action against the Carolina Panthers as they try to take another step towards their third straight Super Bowl.  Cote is feeling confident about their chances.

“They had a rough season with a lot of injuries but they’re good,” said Cote. “Nobody wants to play the Seahawks in the playoffs, they are a very dangerous team.  They had the curse of the last Super Bowl at the beginning of the season but they were able to come back and Russell is back where he needs to be.”