Middleweight bout: Patrick Cote vs. Alan Belcher
Odds: (-105 Cote /-125 Belcher )
In the opening bout of the evening, two tough Middleweights will collide as Patrick Cote makes his return to the Octagon after a layoff of over one year against Alan “The Talent” Belcher. Cote has been out of action since suffering an injury against Anderson Silva, so it will be interesting whether to see if he is back in top condition and how much the layoff will affect his performance.
Alan Belcher is a very tough fighter with heavy hands and underrated submission game. He is not a top level grappler, but he is a wily competitor who has been known to capitalize on mistakes by locking opponents up in submissions, especially guillotine chokes. In a lot of ways Belcher is very similar to Cote, in that neither of them is truly top-level at any one aspect of the fight game, but both are very tough and well-rounded and don’t have any huge glaring holes, either.
Cote’s return is surrounded by a lot of question marks. For one thing, he has been out of action for well over a year, which is going to have an effect on anyone no matter who they are. For another, he was out with a bad knee injury, and the amount of time he took off leaves questions about just how serious that injury was and how well it has healed. One thing you can count on is that Cote will make this a tough fight, because he is notoriously hard-headed and has a surplus of heart. Like Belcher, Cote is very well rounded but not a master at any one thing, but his determination and pure toughness make him one of the toughest fighters to put away at 185 pounds.
Despite Cote’s long layoff, I think this is his fight to win. He has superior wrestling which is going to go a long way toward helping him control this fight, both from the clinch and from top position. I expect both guys to bruise each other up a good bit, but Cote should be able to do enough to earn the unanimous decision and get a win in his return to action.
Prediction: Patrick “The Predator” Cote via unanimous decision.
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