UFC "Respect" Preview - Cote vs Grove

A new correspondant joins the ranks of TheTwoCents this week which a focus on the UFC! Andy will be doing periodic updates for everything UFC. An avid fan of the sport of MMA, he will update on fight news, announcements, and on slow weeks, fighter bios. Welcome aboard Andy!

[Submitted by: Andy]

UFC 74: Respect

With the Ultimate Fighting Championship kicking into high gears than ever imaginable, the UFC 74: Respect (yes there has been 74 shows since the UFC’s inception way back in the mid 90s.) fight card has been officially announced and it’s shaping up to possibly be even more exciting that UFC 73, aptly named Stacked because of the big names but falling really short of all my expectations.

For the sake of the new people out there, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is just one of now many Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) leagues that have garnered national exposure. With a recent acquisition of PRIDE FC, based out of Japan, the UFC now has some of the most elite fighters in the business, and to many out there are considered the “major leagues” of professional fighting.

Now that all that is out of the way, let’s get to the fight card for Respect, on August 25th at the Mandalay Bay in Nevada. Eight fights fill out the card ranging from Middleweights to Heavyweights, with the night capping off in a championship fight for the Heavyweight title. Five of the fights are initially scheduled to be televised, and if some of those fights run short, the three preliminary fights will be shown as “filler”.

Over the weeks leading up to the PPV, we will go through the five televised fights on the card, starting with the first of the night: Patrick “The Predator” Cote vs Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove.



Patrick Cote is a Canadian born boxer, but eventually took up kickboxing, wrestling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (“BJJ” and most MMA fighters have this as a skill). Cote is most known for making it to the finals of The Ultimate Fighter 4, the reality show on Spike TV that showcases unknown fighters and pits them against each other for a chance at a contract, but eventually he lost to the winner Travis Lutter. Cote has a professional record of 10-4, but has only won once in the UFC.



Kendall Grove is an American fighter born in Hawaii. Most notably he is a submission based fighter and is typically more suited to the ground game. He is most known to the UFC fan base as the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 3, fighting on UFC Superstar Tito Ortiz’s team. He has since gone on to win two more fights in the UFC, both by submission. Grove also trains with Tito Ortiz and his camp of fighters “Team Punishment” base out of California.

My prediction: This fight won’t get past the first round, Grove has a SEVEN inch height advantage on Cote, and much more experience in the sport. While Cote has something to prove when it comes to winning, Grove is slated as one of the next big Middleweight fighters and will end this in the first with some kind of submission.

Tomorrow’s fight: Kurt Pellegrino vs Joe Stevenson