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Cote has sights set on return

By Steven Marocco/MMAWeekly.com

Patrick Cote is chomping at the bit to fight, but is not out of the woods with a knee injury.

Cote, 29, blew his MCL out in the third round of his title shot against Anderson Silva last October at UFC 90 and has been unable to train, save for swimming and conditioning drills.

The French-Canadian middleweight will return to the boxing gym this week, but won’t be able to grapple until January. By April or May, according to this doctor, he should be ready for the Octagon.

And funny enough, that’s exactly when he’s rumored to get back – on his personal Facebook account, he called British fighter Michael Bisping out for a May 1 meeting in Montreal, virtually his backyard.

Several sources MMAWeekly.com spoke to Monday said the fight was not signed yet – just Cote’s wish. He wants a slugfest when he comes back.

“I want a big fight right away, with a good style for me,” he told MMAWeekly.com. “I don’t want to fight a guy like Ricardo Almeida for my comeback fight. For sure it’s going to be a boring fight. The style is just like that. I can beat the grappler, no problem, but for my comeback, I’m looking more for a fight like Wanderlei Silva, or Rich Franklin if he goes to 185, or I want to fight Michael Bisping.”

So far, Bisping has been mum on the fight’s possibility, and Wanderlei Silva is booked for February. Franklin has been a steady presence at 195 pounds, though a source close to the fighter says he’ll be looking for a fight in May.

Cote says aggressive fighters like Tim Credeur and Nate Quarry suit him fine, too.

“The last decision will be in the hands of the UFC, so I’ll follow what they want,” he said. “The main thing now is to come back healthy.”

After four straight setbacks in his early Octagon career, Cote bounced back in a big way with four straight victories, earning him the Silva opportunity. The tactical affair was not a hit with Chicago fans, who booed the pair until the fight’s unusual ending.

The “Ultimate Fighter” season four vet says he’s been a student of the game in his time off.

“I don’t feel that I’m so far away,” he said. “I know that I didn’t fight for a year now, but I was all the time very close to the fight, and I did a lot of things close to the fight. The only thing is I have to get back in the shape and find my rhythm. I’m not scared to come back and not be at the same level. I think I’m going to be a better fighter, because I saw a lot of fights from the outside, and I learned a lot of things even without training.”

Cote has no regrets about his performance last October and thinks a rematch would be different.

“I liked my fight with (Anderson),” he said. “In my head, I don’t want to do anything different. I had fun. If I fight him again, I will do exactly the same training camp, maybe with more wrestling.

“I think I (expletive) up his head up a little bit with my game plan. I was in his face but I wasn’t chasing him. He gave me his best punch and his best kick and I was still there. I wanted more like a brawl, but it was more playing technique with me.

“I think it’s going to be easier for me to fight him next time, because when you fight a guy like that, it’s very hard to find a training partner like this guy; he’s one of a kind. The first time I fought him, I did the best I could, but the next time, the surprise aspect of this guy – his movement, his footwork – it’s not going to be a surprise anymore.”