After Donald Cerrone’s failed attempt to avenge loss to Rafael Dos Anjos and capture the Lightweight tile all at once seemed like he was set for the life of gatekeeper at 155. Well, never one to sit idly by and not take a chance to make an impact, Cerrone picked to jump up to Welterweight to face Tim Means but that changed when Means was injured and he fought fellow 155er Alex Oliveira although they fought at 170. He won that fight and seems to have started his path to the Welterweight title. The next person standing in his way is none other than Patrick Cote.
Cote was once a contender for the 185 pound title but a knee injury kept him from finishing that fight. Another loss in his next two fights after coming back from injury sent him out of the UFC. A four fight win streak and a late replacement fight against Cung Le brought him back into the fold and after a DQ win inches next bout he decided to drop to 170 after debuting at 25 nearly ten years early.
This new weight class has done wonders for the veterans career after he has gone an amazing 5-1. His only loss comes to top contender Stephen Thompson by decision, but he has also won three straight wins since that loss though. A win over Joe Riggs by decision set up two fights where he got back to his TKO victories. His biggest win to date came over Ben Saunders and he now has a chance to take out Donald Cerrone. Whoever wins this fight will crack the top 15 if not the top ten very shortly? But whoever loses will have a lot of work to do to recapture this momentum.