The Ultimate Fighter: Nations Finale Preview: Patrick Cote vs. Kyle Noke

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Patrick Cote (19-8, 6-8 UFC) vs. Kyle Noke (20-6-1, 4-2 UFC)

The coaches of this season of The Ultimate Fighter: Nations will battle for national pride in the night’s co-main event when Team Canada coach Patrick Cote looks to cap off a perfect night for Canada when he goes opposite of Team Australia coach Kyle Noke. Both men are looking to remain in the win column as well. Cote enters the fight riding a two-fight win streak but hasn’t fought since UFC 158 in March 2013, when he won a decision over Bobby Voelker. Cote is 6-1 over his last seven fights. Noke has been out of action longer as he last fought at UFC 152 in September 2012. He won by TKO over Charlie Brenneman and ended a two-fight losing skid. Noke is 6-2 over his last eight fights.

Fight Breakdown- The coaches will be battling for bragging rights when they finally step inside the Octagon in the co-main event on Wednesday night. It will be especially big from both mens’ point of view. Cote has four fighters from his Team Canada in the finals, so he will  be looking for a perfect night in his home country. Noke failed to coach a Team Australia member to the finals, so he will want to erase the sting of that. Both men are fighting for the second time since making their respective drop to the welterweight division. Cote is looking for three straight wins after scoring wins over Alessio Sakara and Bobby Voelker. Cote had a rough start to his UFC career, losing his first four fights inside the Octagon. However, five straight wins, four in the UFC, earned Cote a shot at the UFC Middleweight Championship. He lost that fight to Anderson Silva when he suffered a knee injury, and subsequent losses to Alan Belcher and Tom Lawlor found him released from the UFC. Four straight wins got Cote back to the UFC as an injury replacement. He lost to Cung Le in his UFC return at UFC 148 in July 2012, but he has since scored the wins over Sakara and Voelker to get himself in solid footing in this UFC run.

Noke is a veteran of “The Ultimate Fighter” as he was a member of Tito Ortiz’ team on season eleven of the reality show. He was the favorite coming into that season, and he scored two wins in the house and was on his way to the finals. However, Noke was eliminated from competition by Kris McCray. Despite the loss, Noke got to make his UFC debut at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale as he took on teammate Josh Bryant. Noke dominated Bryant in their bout and went on to finish Bryant in the second round and win by TKO. Noke followed that win up with two more wins, a second-round submission over Rob Kimmons at UFC 122 in November 2010, and a first-round submission win over Chris Camozzi at UFC 127 in February 2011. That gave Noke a career-best five-fight win streak as he started his climb up the middleweight rankings. However, Noke suffered setbacks in his next two fights. He lost by submission to Ed Herman in August 2011, and then dropped a decision to Andrew Craig in March 2012 in a fight he dominated early. Following the loss to Craig, Noke decided to make the move down to 170 pounds, and he had a successful welterweight debut in finishing Charlie Brenneman in just 45 seconds. All of Noke’s UFC wins have come by stoppage, and 15 of his 20 wins have come by stoppage.

Cote is a better boxer than Noke, but Noke may be a better kickboxer between the two. Cote likes to look to land his big right hand, and he has a chin to back him up if he gets into a brawl. Noke has a solid chin as well, but he may not have the same pure power that Cote does. They are about equal in size, with Cote maybe being just a tad bit bigger, and both can certainly adjust to cutting down to 170 pounds well. Both have also been out of action for quite some time as Cote has missed just over a year while Noke has missed just over a year-and-a-half. Noke has also had shoulder surgery during that time. Cote would prefer to keep this fight on the feet and turn it into a brawl, and he does have solid counter-punching and works well with body shots in the clinch. Noke has that ability to turn this fight into a wrestling and ground battle, and he is better with takedowns and on the ground. As the fight drags on, Noke could take it over in the final round with takedowns much like Bobby Voelker did against Cote. It will be up to Cote to win the opening two rounds with his striking to give him a cushion in the third round as this one is likely to go to the judges. This fight will be won on the feet. Cote takes a close decision.

Why It Matters- Both men are eager to return to active competition after being out of action for so long, and there will be bragging rights on the line. Cote will be the victor when it comes to members of Team Canada winning the six-figure contracts, but Noke has the change to score some vengeance for Team Australia. Cote is looking to extend his two-fight win streak and get another win in his native Quebec. Noke wants to bring the crowd down and win in not-so-friendly territory. Noke is also looking to start a new win streak, and both are looking to move up the ladder into bigger fights in a now wide-open welterweight division. Both are also in a solid position on the card in the co-main event, and with the main event of a free show being a bigger-than-normal fight for free television, both have the chance to showcase themselves in front of a solid audience. Better yet, it is just the chance to get back into the Octagon and hopefully remain injury-free for the rest of 2014.

Prediction- Cote

Ryan Frederick has been a diehard mixed martial arts fan since he saw UFC 1 at the age of 7. Since then he has yet to miss a show. He also has loves for football, baseball and fine whiskey. He fell in love with covering MMA after having also covered baseball and football, both professional and college, while working towards a journalism degree at Texas Christian University. His work has been seen on FOXSports.com, InsideFights.com, WrestlingObserver.com, Bleacher Report and ToughTalkMMA.com.