Cung Le’s dream comes true, grabs unanimous win over Patrick Cote at UFC 148 – UFC News
Cung Le, the former Strikeforce middleweight champion, shattered Patrick Cote’s second UFC comeback, outfoxing him to win a 30-27 unanimous decision, in a three-round non-title bout held on July 7, 2012 at UFC 148.
The duo met at the renowned MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The event was headlined by the highly anticipated UFC middleweight title bout between arch rivals Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.
The pay-per-view also witnessed Tito Ortiz square off in his career’s last bout against Forrest Griffin in a rubber match. Cung and Patrick gave a serious tough time to each other but it was the veteran Le who optimally used his experience and outclassed
the young Cote in almost all the facets of the sport.
During the whole bout, Le authoritatively used his right leg to throw explosive kicks targeting the long-heighted Cote. It was one of his powerful kicks that busted open Patrick’s head.
Cote did try his level best to control the pace but Le dominated the octagon by his flawless footwork. In the second round, Cote attempted a takedown but the wrestling pro did not allow ‘The Predator’ to flatten him on the mat and leaped for almost 15 seconds
eventually forcing Cote to leave his leg.
In the first five-minute collision, both men adopted a defensive stance with Le connecting his powerful swift kicks from a distance every now and then. Cote kept on finding a weakness during the whole bout and later on adopted the head-down move-in style
which did help him a bit in grabbing few points.
With the final seconds passing by, Le ended the bout in style by taking down Cote and flattening him on the floor. In the last 30 seconds, the crowd witnessed Cote striving hard to break the veteran’s grip but the bout ended with Le being the obvious winner.
After collecting his first UFC victory, Le admitted that Patrick has a hard head and stated, “I feel great. A little tired. I was going to do a backflip, but I didn't have any energy. He's got such a hard head – I hurt my foot on it. I fought my heart out.”
Cung further commented that it is a dream come true for him, adding that he is an adrenaline junkie and a retirement is not in the agenda. “One goal reached, and another goal to come. I’m going to go back to the drawing board – but I’m an adrenaline junkie
and I'm not sure I can give it up yet. To all the 40-year-olds, I did it for you guys.”
Cote, after collecting a unanimous loss, stated, “I thought it was tricky. I was about to push the pace, but he had a lot better footwork than I was expecting.”
With this win, Cung has collected his eighth victory whereas Cote, is in trouble as he has received his eighth career loss.
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