TORONTO — The UFC is set to debut in our nation’s capital on June 18 when a Fight Night event takes centre stage at TD Place Arena.
The card is headlined by a welterweight title eliminator bout between No. 1-ranked contender Rory MacDonald and No. 2 contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.
In the co-main event, Patrick “The Predator” Cote takes on fan favourite Donald Cerrone in a 170-pound tilt.
MacDonald, Thompson, and Cote recently stopped by Sportsnet to talk about UFC Ottawa and many other things.
Rory MacDonald
The Canadian star opened up about his matchup with Wonderboy, working with Sage Northcutt, potentially bringing in Raymond Daniels to help him train and his upcoming free agency.
“I’ve never even competed against a karate style so it’s going to make things interesting for me preparing for it. It’s fun because you get to work with new techniques that hopefully will work in the fight.”
Stephen Thompson
Thompson has been training with former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman in preparation for his fight with MacDonald.
“Having somebody in on your legs as tough and as strong as Chris Weidman makes all the 170s seem pretty easy.”
Patrick Cote
This is the third fight in a row that Cote has been listed as the underdog. The Canadian has won 10 of his last 12 fights and hopes to scare Cerrone back to the lightweight division.
“He’s a fan favourite for sure, but he’s not going to be a fan favourite here. This is my place. This is my home turf. This is my country. He’s coming here. He’s not welcome here. It’s going to be an amazing fight. I’m very happy to fight that guy. I wanted to fight a big name or [someone in the] top 15. I think I have the best of the two worlds.”
