Belcher Set to Fight Cote at UFC 83

Alan Belcher (11-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC), who had to pull out of this past weekend’s UFC 81 event with bronchitis, will take on Patrick Cote (12-4 MMA, 3-4 UFC) at an April 19 UFC 83 event at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

UFC President White confirmed that Cote will be part of the fight card during Monday’s UFC 83 press conference, which was attended by UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra and interim champ (and French-Canadian) Georges St. Pierre, who meet in the night’s main event.

Belcher was supposed to fight Ricardo Almeida at this past weekends UFC 81 event, but he had to pull out of the televised fight on just three days’ notice.

“I am still under the weather a bit, and I’m going back to the doctor (today),” Belcher told us. “I still have some deep coughing that you can hear real bad in my chest."

However, he plans for a full recover in time for UFC 83, which will be the first-ever UFC event in Canada.

His opponent, Cote, has drastically improved his stock in the UFC’s middleweight division with recent victories over “The Ultimate Fighter 3” winner Kendall Grove (UFC 74) and hard-hitting Miletich fighter Drew McFedries (UFC Fight Night 12). Cote has now won his past four fights (three were in the UFC), and six of his past seven. Cote began his UFC career with four straight losses and has since posted three consecutive wins.

Belcher, a former light heavyweight, began his UFC career with a 1-2 record. However, he’s since posted back-to-back victories over Sean Salmon and Kalib Starnes. His UFC 77 fight with Starnes appeared to be “Fight of the Night” material, but the bout was stopped a couple minutes into the second round because of a deep gash on Starnes’ forehead. Belcher was credited with the TKO victory.