(Cote enjoying the hell out of his alternate reality.)

When I saw the video of Patrick Cote looking inebriated in a hotel room and talking about how bad he had “fucked up” Anderson Silva in their fight at UFC 90, I assumed this was something he needed to tell himself in order to enjoy his post-fight party. We all have our own pleasant fictions, and I can’t begrudge a man with a blown out knee and a cut forehead from getting all hopped up on, well, whatever he was hopped up on, and telling himself a palatable story about what had happened that night.

The fact that he still believes it is a little more disconcerting. Speaking about the fight on MMA Rated Radio, Cote seems to have decided that Silva‘s antics weren’t a show of disrespect, but rather a sign that the champ was so utterly confused in the fight that he didn’t know what to do:

“I don’t think it was a lack of respect. I just think my game plan was perfect. I was moving a lot, going forward but not running after him and I don’t think he was expecting a lot of leg kicks like I did. He gave me a very good shot and I was still there…He didn’t want to exchange, I think, with me.”

That is one possible interpretation. Granted, it’s the interpretation that’s most generous to Cote, and the interpretation that only Cote seems to subscribe to, but it’s an interpretation nonetheless. As for Silva offering his hand to help him up, Cote has an explanation for that one too:

“I didn’t take that like (it was) a lack of respect. I took that more like he tried to hide (because) he was a little bit lost because when I was on the ground I gave him two very, very good elbows on his head and he wasn’t able to do anything on the ground.”

Let me see if I understand this. Silva was so discouraged by the two “very, very good elbows” from Cote that he “tried to hide” by extending his hand to help Cote up? And the fact that Silva engaged only sparingly, though effectively, this was also a sign of how lost he was?

It’s hard for me to accept that Patrick Cote might actually believe this. You can’t underestimate the power of willful self-deception, but hasn’t he watched the tape? Has he heard what anyone is saying about the fight, or does he only listen to the dudes in his entourage who shout things like “You fucked him up big time!” whenever the conversation turns to this bout?

If Cote genuinely thinks that he had Silva so confused and so lost that he couldn’t mount an offense, then by all means, give that man a rematch once his knee is healed up. If nothing else, it ought to be a useful learning experience for all parties.