DOERKSEN: Canadian Joe Doerksen sports a 29-6 record in MMA, a 1-0 boxing record and is the current Freestyle Fighting Championships middleweight champion. He fights as part of Team Extreme and trains with Alex Steibling and Jeremy Horn. Joe has been training kickboxing with K-1 veteran Jeff “ Duke” Roufus. When back home in Canada, he works out at the Canadian Kickboxing and Muay Thai Centre with world-class Muay Thai fighter Giuseppe DeNatale and trainer David Horvath. For his grappling there, Doerksen goes to International Martial Arts to work with Rodrigo Muncuruca.

Doerksen began fighting in the Bas Rutten Invitational in ’99 and competed in four fights in one night, losing only to UFC veteran Eugene Jackson. Joe went on to win two four-man tournaments in the Extreme Challenge events (EC 34 and 36) beating UFC veterans Adrian Serrano and Lee Murray in the process. He has fought in the WEF, Superbrawl, RINGS USA, UCC and many others.

His record includes victories over John Renken, Denis Kang, Jay Buck, Chris Leben and UFC veterans John Alessio, Anthony Macias. Doerksen won the Superbrawl/Extreme Challenge eight-man tournament, defeating three opponents in one night and spent just over five minutes in the ring. Joe has proven himself to be a fighter who only loses to top-shelf talent including Matt Hughes, Egan Inoue and David Loiseau. He lost his Octagon debut to Joe Riggs via strikes but is 2-0 (both wins by submission) since the loss at UFC 49.

COTE: Patrick Cote is 6-1 in MMA, the current TKO light heavyweight champion and currently ranked the top light heavyweight fighter in Canada. He fights for Team Union with teammates Phillipe Lagace (trainer) and Rino Lagace, Sebastien Lacace, Francois Flibotte, Danny Laflamme, and Frederic Poirier. “The Predator” had stepped up training his training prior to his Octagon debut working with jiu-jitsu trainer Fabio Holanda (submitted Kultar Gill) and UFC 52 card mate Georges St-Pierre.

The boxer and jiu-jitsu purple belt won his title at TKO 14: Road Warriors via technical knockout over Steve Vigneault (a former UCC middleweight champion) and defended his title by knocking out tough fellow Canadian Bill Mahood in just 15 seconds.

Cote replaced an injured Guy Mezger at UFC 50 and stepped up to face Tito Ortiz. He was scheduled to face kickboxer Marvin Eastman but a reshuffle of the opponents saw Cote battling in the main event. Though he lost a decision, Cote stayed with the former light heavyweight champion and is back in the Octagon. In recent action, “The Predator” won a hard fought decision over Ricardeau Francois at TKO 19.

MY PICK: This is the first ever Canadian versus Canadian bout in the UFC. That’s a big deal for them and they should be proud. Though Canada doesn’t have the MMA respect they feel they deserve, they do have a lot of promising fighters and many of them have filtered into the UFC over the last two years.

Doerksen has a huge edge in experience here but he is not a natural light heavyweight. Cote looks big for 205 pounds and may have an edge in power. That being said, I feel Doerksen is better on the ground and that is where this bout will take place. Although Cote has just one loss and fought some tough guys, he hasn’t fought anyone with the submission knowledge of Doerksen and that may be his downfall. Doerksen by submission in the second round.