Canadian welterweight Patrick Cote (23-9) will be looking to make a serious impact when he returns to the Octagon to face Ben Saunders (19-6-2) on January 17th in Boston, in a fight that UFC Canada officially announced on Friday.

“I have to go there and make another statement, since I joined the 170 pound division I’ve already made a couple statements,” Cote told TSN.ca. “I belong in this weight class and I’m able to fight anyone in the world but right now I think they need another statement so I’m going there to knock this guy out inside two rounds.”

The 35-year-old thought that his most recent victory over Josh Burkman at UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs. Oliveira, an impressive third round TKO victory that earned the pair Fight of the Night honours, had earned him a shot at a higher ranked opponent than the Salt Lake City, native but he’s going to Boston to fight whomever the promotion puts in his path.

“I was looking for a top 15 guy, I’m 4-1 in the welterweight division in the UFC so I think I was deserving of a better matchup,” said Cote. “No disrespect to Ben Saunders, he’s a very tough guy but I wanted to face someone in the top 15 to put me in a good place after my next fight with a win.”

Prior to his victory over Burkman, the 35-year-old defeated Joe Riggs by unanimous decision at UFC 186 after having been out of the Octagon for almost a year.

He also holds UFC welterweight victories over Bobby Voelker and Kyle Noke, both of which he earned by unanimous decision.

Cote’s only loss since moving to the 170-pound division was a unanimous decision defeat to Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson at UFC 178.

The Rimouski, Quebec native already has a head start on his fight camp for his upcoming bout.

“I started my training camp two weeks ago because I wanted to fight at the end of January so I was already in fight mode,” said Cote. “I feel awesome, I’ve never started training camp so light, it’s going to be easy to make the weight and I never stopped training anyway.”

Meanwhile, Cote’s opponent Saunders enters the bout on a three fight winning streak, the third of which was a bloody, split decision victory over Kenny Robertson at UFC on Fox: Dillashaw vs. Barao 2 at a July event held in Chicago.

He also holds a recent victory over Riggs when the Sanford, Maine fighter was forced to tap out after suffering a neck injury during a takedown.