In what will be a rarity for the vet, Donald Cerrone will fight an opponent who debuted with the promotion before “Cowboy” did when he takes on Patrick Cote at UFC Fight Night 89.

Cerrone (29-7 MMA, 16-4 UFC) said he was unaware Cote’s (23-9 MMA, 10-9 UFC) tenure with the promotion dates back longer than his does. But that’s mainly because he’s yet to see any of the French-Canadian’s 19 octagon appearances.

“I’ve never seen him (fight),” Cerrone told MMAjunkie. “I know he fought Anderson Silva. I don’t remember that fight. I know he fought my buddy Kyle Noke, but I didn’t see any of it. I don’t watch footage or watch anybody, so it’s not talking down to the guy at all. It’s not him. I just don’t pay attention.”

Cerrone meets Cote in the welterweight co-main event of UFC Fight Night 89, which takes place June 18 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It’s expected to air on FOX Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

The bout marks Cerrone’s second at 170 pounds after he moved up to the weight class in February following a failed title bid to take lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos’ title. “Cowboy” earned eight consecutive UFC wins leading up to that title fight.

The bout went disastrously after dos Anjos stopped Cerrone with strikes in just 66 seconds to defend the belt. That result prompted “Cowboy” to make a change: adding 15 pounds to his frame and jumping up a weight class.

After original opponent Tim Means was pulled from UFC Fight Night 83’s main event on short notice, Cerrone ended up fighting Alex Oliveira, whom he submitted with a triangle choke in the first round.

Although the result was a slick submission victory, Cerrone said he isn’t ready to commit to welterweight being a permanent home. A return to lightweight is certainly a possibility, but he took the fight with Cote mainly because it was the first available option.

“The weight didn’t matter; I just wanted to fight,” Cerrone said. “Everyone that made sense at 155 just had a fight or had a fight coming up. I wanted to fight sooner than June. I wanted the end of April or the beginning of May. This is the soonest one they could get. (Otherwise) it was sitting and waiting for somebody to get hurt. But the odds of that? You never know. It’s a gamble in itself.”

Cerrone is famous for his willingness to fight on the drop of a dime against anyone. Bouncing between two weight classes could prove to be a detrimental, though, if he hopes to make another climb toward a UFC title fight. He’s experienced a dramatic drop in the UFC’s official lightweight rankings.

“I’ll go back to 155 and (expletive) them (expletive) up too,” Cerrone said. “I don’t even care. It pisses me off I went from No. 2 to No. 9 (in the official UFC rankings). Whatever. I’ll just keep bouncing back and forth.”

Cerrone’s goal is to win at UFC Fight Night 89 and then push the UFC for a spot on an event during July’s International Fight Week festivities. The organization has three events scheduled over the course of three days, and while that stretch comes just three weeks after his bout with Cote, Cerrone said he’d be ready.

“There are 36 fights that weekend; goddamn, ‘Cowboy’ should be one of them, right?” Cerrone said. “There are 36 fights. That’s insane, (expletive) insane, bro. They got to be able to make a matchup for me out of 36 spots. Get me in on that.”

As far as handling his business against Cote, though, Cerrone said he will approach the fight like all the rest: with no focus on his opponent and all of it on himself.

“I got nothing bad to say about Cote,” Cerrone said. “I don’t even know the son of a (expletive), so I can’t really badmouth him.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 89, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.