Canada’s own Patrick Cote (Pictures) will be the next brave challenger for the UFC middleweight title, which is currently under the stranglehold of Anderson Silva (Pictures). Cote will face the man who many consider the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter on October 25 from the Allstate Arena in Chicago.
Cote had just returned from a Caribbean vacation when he heard about Okami’s broken hand and the possibility of stepping in to replace him.
“When I came back everybody asked, ‘Did you hear the news? Maybe you will fight Anderson Silva (Pictures),’” said Cote. “Then two days later my manager (Stephane Patry) told me that the UFC wanted to put Anderson against me.”
Cote said he accepted the bout immediately.
“I do this sport to be No. 1, so I can’t ask for more. To fight the best guy pound-for-pound in the world and to have a chance to get a title shot – it’s perfect,” said Cote. “I’m not scared of anybody – I said yes to fight Tito Ortiz (Pictures) on four days notice when I was in a different weight division, so to fight Anderson Silva (Pictures) is the ultimate goal for me. I want to be champion of my weight class.”
Cote, 28, credits his dual training facilities between coach Fabio Holanda (Pictures) and BTT Canada in Montreal and instructor Mark DellaGrotte and Sityodtong in Boston for helping him clear the path to gold.
“Since I’ve gone to Sityodtong I’m undefeated, but I think it’s a combination of Sityodtong and my team, BTT Canada, that has made me better,” he said. “Fabio Holanda (Pictures) and Mark DellaGrotte work very well together, and I think I’ve found a good combination to be champion. I had a rough start with the UFC, but now all of my bad luck is behind me and the future is good.”
Holanda believes his rising student is a different fighter now then when he lost at “The Ultimate Fighter 4” finale to Travis Lutter (Pictures) in Nov. 2006, and that a good game plan means all the difference in a fight.
“His best fight for me ever was against Almeida,” Holanda told Sherdog.com. “People don’t realize that Almeida is like ten times better than Lutter. With Lutter he was a different fighter. You have no idea – I can’t explain. Everybody thought it would be Almeida all the way, but from his fight with Lutter to his fight with Almeida it’s a huge difference – he’s not the same fighter any more.”
New fighter or not, Silva –- untouchable in his last seven fights -- still poses a very formidable threat. What does Cote bring to the table that others have failed to do before?
“I think I have the best style to fight this guy. I have a good chin, I’ll go forward, and I think every time he fights his opponent has already lost because he’s scared of him,” said Cote, who has never been knocked out in training. “I know that this guy is very, very good, but we have a good game plan for the fight, and I’m 100% confident that I will win.”
DellaGrotte is just as assured.
“We’ve known him (Silva) for awhile and have studied him for awhile, and we’re going to try to exploit him in several areas,” said the regarded trainer. “It’s not an easy task, but this is a rare opportunity to do something that the world doesn’t think we can do, and Patrick is the type of guy that rises to the occasion.”
Hominick: The fight that almost didn’t happen
Although he has had some wins come by way of submission in the past, including a notable triangle choke over Yves Edwards (Pictures) in 2006, London, Ontario’s Mark Hominick (Pictures) has never really been considered a “ground guy.”
That may soon change.
Hominick told Sherdog.com that in his recent training camp leading up to Affliction’s inaugural card on July 19 in Anaheim, Calif., he changed his outlook on training. Hominick already knew that he could hit with the best of them, but that his groundwork required some extra attention.
“I really just focused on my weaknesses, and it turned out that my weaknesses ended up being my strength in the fight,” he said.
Going into his bout with Trenell “Savant” Young, Hominick figured that he’d finish his opponent with a body or head shot. The heavy-handed hitter surprised everyone, maybe even himself, when he switched from an initial triangle choke attempt to a successful armbar to secure the second-round victory.
Hominick prepared for the bout at the relatively new Xtreme Couture facility in Toronto, a place very quickly becoming the Mecca for MMA training in Canada.
“There are a good group of guys there, and Nick Johnson is the head trainer down there. He’s Georges St. Pierre (Pictures)’s old wrestling coach and he’s really elevated my game,” said Hominick. “There’s also three or four black belts in jiu-jitsu down there, Mark Bocek (Pictures) and Rob Di Cenzo, and they’ve really been helping my game.”
Hominick said that Affliction did a lot right for their first show.
“I’ve never been treated as well as I was with the Affliction show,” he said. “They made you feel like you were the most important guy on the card, and they treated everybody like they should have been treated. I felt honored to be a part of history, and I think that’s exactly what that show was. I was honored to be associated with the guys that were on there.”
But as good as the experience was, not all went according to plan, as Hominick was faced with the possibility that he might not ended up fighting at all.
“It was a little frustrating because I was supposed to be the first fight of the night, so I was warming up and getting ready to go out,” recalled Hominick. “They had some technical difficulties or some issues that the show kept kinda getting pushed back a bit, so they came in and told me that they’d fit me in wherever they could.”
Hominick was placed on stand-by for a majority of the evening while other fighters filed in and out of the same locker room and returned toting their wins or losses.
“I kept warming up and cooling down, warming up and cooling down, and I finally just put on a sweatshirt and jogging pants and sat down to watch the fights,” said the London, Ontario native. “I was getting worried for a bit, but then they came in and said I was on next.”
Ever the optimist, Hominick wasn’t too concerned about any physical or mental toll the delay might cause.
“I think it hurt him more, because I knew my conditioning was better so the warm-up and cool-down would hurt him more than me,” said the 26-year-old fighter. “I just kept looking at it from the standpoint that he was going through the exact same thing.”
Hominick told Sherdog.com that he signed a three-fight deal with Affliction, and he’s planning to be a part of the trio of events that they’re planning. The next Affliction card is slated for Oct. 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Hominick will also be a part of the grand opening of the new Team Tompkins facility on Sept. 1 in London, Ontario.
Hollett to return Sept. 20
Light heavyweight dynamo Roger Hollett (Pictures) has revealed exclusively to Sherdog.com that he’ll be making his return to the cage at ECC 8 on Sept. 20 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The date will mark Hollett’s first fight since last October, when he blew out his ACL, MCL, and meniscus in his only career loss to Lew Polley (Pictures) at ECC 6. Hollett had reconstructive surgery Feb. 1 and has surprised all with his rapid recovery.
But as fast as he healed, it wasn’t fast enough for Hollett.
“I’ve been climbing the walls,” said Hollett with a laugh. “The whole time they’ve been telling me I’m going too hard and to slow down, but I’ve been careful with it the entire time. Anytime I felt pain or anything I’d stop or wouldn’t push it too far, but at the same time I still wanted to train and to test it a little bit and see how far I could take it, and it went really well.”
Hollett, the son of former boxing and kickboxing champion Ralph Hollett, said no official decision has been made regarding his next opponent. He could confirm that he’ll be defending his ECC Canadian light heavyweight title (Hollett lost the world title to Polley).
The promising 205-pounder has also signed a 5-fight deal with Edmonton’s Maximum Fighting Championship and will compete for them in November.
X-Fights: Another enters the fray
Another cross-country promotion looks ready to emerge in Canada, as X-Fights plans to hold its first card in Moncton, New Brunswick on Oct. 4. X-Fights Director of Operations Vic Theriault told Sherdog.com that the debuting promotion’s goal is to have four shows per year across Canada, which will be filmed in HD and made into a series of 12, 1-hour TV shows.
X-Fights will actually be comprised of two types of combat. The first will be MMA, and the second, called “Strike War,” will feature standup fighting only, and therefore can be held in Ontario, where MMA is currently prohibited.
Theriault was recently on an east coast scouting trip for the Moncton show, while Strike War will debut on Oct. 25 in Kingston, Ontario and will be headlined by Steven “Wonderboy” Thompson, a pro kickboxer who retired from amateur competition in 2004 with an undefeated record of 33-0. Thompson has recently been training with UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre (Pictures) in Montreal, and Theriault says that Thompson be making his MMA debut with X-Fights in the near future.
Canadian Calendar
Aug 2: UMC - Fort QuAppelle, Saskatoon
Aug 9: East Coast Fight Promotions "Standoff at the Stadium" - New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
Aug 9: XCW 25 – Saskatoon
Aug 23: Elite #1 "Showdown at the Dome" – Moncton, New Brunswick
Sep 5: UGC 21 – Montreal, Quebec
Sep 6: Fighters Nation 2 – Calgary Corral, Calgary, Alberta
Sep 13: XMMA – Montreal, Quebec
Sep 20: ECC 8 – Halifax, Nova Scotia
Oct 3: TKO 35 – Montreal, Quebec
Oct 18: KOTC Vancouver Island - Beban Park, British Columbia
Nov 22: Phoenix Fight Promotions 5 – Halifax, Nova Scotia
Dec 5: TKO 36 – Montreal, Quebec