Patrick Cote Explains Why He Decided To Retire

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Patrick Cote explained why he decided to retire from MMA after fourteen years. His last fight was at UFC 210 against Thiago Alves, which he lost by unanimous decision. He left his gloves in the cage, a common ritual from those who are retiring. Here are highlights:

On keeping the decision low-key: “I didn’t want to make a big story about it. I wanted to focus on the fight and I wanted people to watch the fight just because it was another fight, even my wife didn’t know, and I did that on purpose because I wanted to do that for myself. That was the first fight I was very selfish about. I gave 15 years of my life for this sport and only Fabio, my head coach, knew and that’s it. My other two cornermen didn’t know, and I did that on purpose because I didn’t want to make interviews before for my last fight and make it a big deal. I wanted to go there and just fight like it was another fight. For me, I just wanted to live the moment alone, just live the moment by myself, and I knew that it was going to be my last walk in, my last entrance song, my last introduction by Bruce Buffer, and I have no regrets about it. I did that for myself and it’s good, man.”

On his decision to retire: “My decision was made before [the fight]. I didn’t make the decision based on emotion about the loss. I knew two months before that it would be my last fight because I’m tired of doing that for 15 years. I was a little bit tired, and I always said that if I wake up one day and I don’t want to go to the gym anymore, or it’s hard for me to go to the gym and train for a fight, then I will stop because it’s not worth it. And it did happen to me, maybe a couple of times during that training camp, so that was a wake-up call for me.”

Looking back at his career: “I have so many moments in that cage. My first fight in the UFC, I don’t think it can get any better than that. It was my first fight in the UFC, main event against Tito Ortiz, the poster boy. Even after 13 years in that business, they’re still taking about it when they present me, so it’s pretty crazy. And of course, my title fight, that’s the dream of every fighter, to fight for the UFC title, and this is something that I’m very proud. No one will ever be able to take that away from me. I had a nice run and I’m really happy about my career, but it’s time to pass to another thing.”