UFC color commentator Joe Rogan has a habit of calling every fighter who puts in a solid performance the best version of that fighter we've ever seen.
Sunday night, though, we might have actually seen the best version of Patrick Cote, and for someone with more than 30 pro fights, that's saying something.
A sharp Cote overwhelmed Ben Saunders at UFC Fight Night 81 before finishing him via TKO in a welterweight machup. The time of the stoppage at Boston's TD Garden was 1:19.
"I think it was a confidence thing," said Cote (23-9), who won for the sixth time in his past seven fights. "Before I had jiu-jitsu, but now when I'm in the cage nothing can bother me."
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Saunders (19-7-2), a finisher, went for the takedown in the first round, but ultimately found himself on the wrong end of a sweet Cote transition into a tight armbar.
While Saunders escaped that one, he had no answer for Cote in the clinch in the second. Cote, who made his UFC debut at UFC 50, landed uppercut after uppercut until Saunders crumpled to the canvas. The fight was soon thereafter waved off.
"I said before I've got everything and I was going to show it tonight," said Cote, who won his third straight bout.
Saunders had a three-fight winning streak snapped, his first loss since his UFC return.