Patrick Cote credits mental toughness for getting him back into UFC.
Cote recently retired after his loss to Thiago Alves at UFC 210. The fighter was 15-8 in his two stints in UFC. He first fought in the promotion in 2007, went on a five fight winning streak before earning a middleweight championship fight against Anderson Silva. On Fightful MMA's podcast, he talked about getting cut after a three fight losing streak which included a loss to Silva.
"I fought for the title against Anderson Silva in 2008, busted my knee up, was out for a year and a half. I came back and lost two fights in a row, after that they kicked me out. Two years before, I was fighting for the title," said Cote. "At thirty years old, I was like 'do I want to make a comeback at thirty years old?', going to the gym, making sacrifices, pain everyday. I was like 'I was so close to having the belt and two and half years after I am not in UFC anymore.' It took a lot of mental toughness to get back. I was fighting on the smaller shows in front of five hundred people. I was able to climb back up the ladder," he continued.
While away from UFC, Cote fought in a few promotions in Canada and Brazil. He came back to UFC as a late replacement to fight Cung Le. Cote took time in his story to explain he had no protection as a independent contractor and speculated the use of collective bargaining could protect fighters when they are cut from a promotion. He said he came back to UFC for his passion of mixed-martial-arts and he claimed that is the reason most fighters continue to compete.
Cote's appearance on Fightful MMA's podcast is available at FightfulMMA.com.
