Cote one win away from title

Patrick Cote defeated Ricardo Almeida Saturday night at UFC 86 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, moving Cote into title contention to vie for the Ultimate Fighting Championship's middleweight crown currently held by Anderson Silva.

Cote has become known for his toughness and punching power, but the hard hitting Canadian was unable to finish Almeida, winning by split decision. "I will knock everyone out who wants to trade with me. I will knockout every striker who tries to trade with me, Cote told MMAWeekly. "It was the match up. Sometimes the match up is like that."

"I did not want to play the Jiu-Jitsu game with this guy. This guy is world class in Jiu-Jitsu. He's one of the best in the world," commented Cote.

"I was fighting one of the best Jiu-Jitsu guys in the world. This guy was no joke. My game plan was to sprawl and brawl and footwork. And I did exactly what I wanted to do. I showed that I've improved a lot on my wrestling and my ground game. I escaped from four guillotines. My wrestling was good. He took me down, but I was able to get back up. He won the first round, but after that I think I won... I did exactly what I wanted to do and I won."

UFC president Dana White stated in the UFC 86 pre-fight press conference that the winner of the Cote-Almeida bout would receive a title shot against the winner of Silva-Yushin Okami planned for later this year.

Asked about White's comments, Cote said, "I'm ready for anybody. I ain't scared of anybody in my weight class. But I will believe it when I sign the contract."

Cote spoke with MMAWeekly after his bout, but before the post-fight press conference. White assured to the media during the post-fight presser that Cote would indeed get a shot at the UFC middleweight title.

White admitted that the Cote and Almeida fight was "boring," but maintained that Cote would get an opportunity to fight for the belt to the media during the post-fight press conference. "Sometimes when you have two guys who are really, really good fight each other that's what happens. Especially when you have two guys with different game plans," said the UFC president. "One wants to keep it standing. One wants to go to the ground. And that's what happened tonight with those two."

"He's getting a title shot," reiterated White.