One-time UFC middleweight contender Patrick Cote (13-7) has a simple plan for getting back into the big show: Knock dudes out.

His next opponent, ex-UFC middleweight Kalib Starnes (12-5-1), has a reputation for running, but Cote has a plan for that, too.

"I'm going to be very aggressive, and I'm going to put him away," he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

Cote meets Starnes April 9 at Ringside MMA in what will be his first fight since the UFC released him this past fall, and he has home-court advantage. Montreal's Bell Centre hosts the event, which also features a light heavyweight title fight between Roger Hollett and Steve Bosse, as Sherdog.com first reported.

Cote's departure from the UFC came on the heels of third consecutive loss in the octagon against Tom Lawlor at UFC 121 this past October. After a knee injury dashed a bid for middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva's belt at UFC 90, he returned 19 months later and was submitted by Alan Belcher at UFC 113.

Lawlor put on a takedown clinic on Cote, who said he slipped a disk his back two days prior to the fight with Lawlor but did not want to trouble the UFC by withdrawing last-minute.

It's been a bad run of luck for the former contender, but he's determined to once again earn his spot in the UFC.

"I don't take anything away from Tom's performance," Cote said. "He did what he had to do, and he came well-prepared. He won the fight. But that's why I wasn't able to move."

Now healthy, he looks to erase the bad taste left by his October showing with a knockout of Starnes, a British Columbia native who was released by the UFC following a much-maligned performance against Nate Quarry at UFC 83.

"Everybody remembers him for his fight against Nate Quarry," Cote said. "It would be a big mistake for me if I just think about that and prepare myself with this fight in my mind. But the reality is he's going to have nowhere to run."

What if Starnes, a jiujitsu black belt, shoots for his legs as Lawlor did?

"I'll do the same kind of training as when I fought Ricardo Almeida," Cote said of his soon-to-begin training camp. "They're both [Brazilian jiu-jitsu] black belts, but this is not the same level of [Brazilian jiu-jitsu] black belt.

"I think I proved to everybody that my wrestling and my ground game is good when I'm healthy. That's exactly what I'm going to do against Kalib, and I'm going to knock him out."

He also plans on getting a little help from his friends and family at the Bell Centre.

"I think it's going to put a little bit of pressure on [Starnes] because the last time he fought in Montreal, it was against Nate Quarry," Cote said. "I'm going to take all the energy from the crowd."

While Cote admits that energy was sometimes lacking in his training, he now feels more motivated than ever to put on a good show. The UFC, he said, is just waiting to see that fire once again.

"There's no hard feelings between us because they fired me, or something like that," he said. "I lost three in a row. I understand that. I know what exactly what I have to do, and I'll do it. I'm pretty confident I'll finish 2011 in the big show