By Mike JohnstonPopular slugger and Quebec native Patrick “The Predator” Cote has signed on to fight Tom “The Filthy Mauler” Lawlor in a middleweight matchup at UFC 121. The two men have agreed to the bout, which would likely take place on the pay-per-view portion of the card, though nothing has been finalized.
Cote (13-6) and Lawlor (6-3) are both coming off submission losses at UFC 113 in Montreal, subsequently both by second round rear-naked choke. Cote was defeated by fellow middleweight contender Alan Belcher, while Winnipeg’s Joe Doerksen came from behind to submit Lawlor in an exciting preliminary bout.
The French-Canadian’s goal remains to get another shot at the middleweight belt. At UFC 90, Cote fought Anderson Silva for the title, but unfortunately blew out his knee at the beginning of the third round. “The Predator” required surgery and was out of commission for over a year and a half. His octagon return didn’t go as planned and shortly after his loss to Belcher, Cote regrouped and said, “I am ready to return to action, it’s a new beginning!”
His opponent, Lawlor, is also extremely talented, popular and exciting. He is known as much for his pre-fight hilarity as he is for his octagon performances. Lawlor often sports wigs and costumes during weigh-ins, has impersonated UFC pioneer Don Frye, and has even dressed as Hulk Hogan and came out to Hogan’s signature song. However, when the costumes are off and the music stops, Lawlor is no joke. He possesses a strong wrestling game and has shown marked improvement with his striking. The matchup with Cote should make for an excellent, crowd-pleasing fight.
UFC 121 is shaping up to be yet another outstanding display of mixed martial arts, the fastest growing sport in the world. Other recent fight announcements for this event include a heavyweight title fight between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez, and the debut of Jake Shields as he takes on Martin Kampmann in a welterweight contender bout. Also on the card are Sam Stout, Diego Sanchez and the newest Ultimate Fighter, Court McGee.
Here are all the rumoured bouts for UFC 121 to date:
Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez (for the UFC Heavyweight Championship)
Martin Kampmann vs. Jake Shields
Diego Sanchez vs. Paulo Thiago
Patrick Cote vs. Tom Lawlor
Brendan Schaub vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Sam Stout vs. Paul Taylor
Court McGee vs. Ryan Jensen
Chris Camozzi vs. Dongi Yang
This will be the best card of the year.
ReplyDeleteit is stacked top to bottom and has two aweosme canadian fighters
Agreed and couldn't have said it better myself.
ReplyDeleteThis is one I may have to leave the country for.