Weekend winners include Cote, Lima, Jimmo, Davis, Escudero, Neer and others

In his first fight since an October UFC release, former title challenger Patrick Cote got back in the win column with a unanimous-decision victory over fellow UFC vet Kalib Starnes.

The bout headlined Saturday’s Ringside MMA 10 event at Montreal's Bell Centre.

Cote was released following a three-fight losing skid, which included a UFC 90 title loss to middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Cote was injured in the fight and sat out nearly two years while recuperating from knee surgery. But subsequent losses to Alan Belcher and Tom Lawlor ended what was a fourth UFC stint for "The Ultimate Fighter 4" cast member.

Against Starnes (12-5-1), Cote (14-7) largely kept the fight standing and overcame an unsuccessful first round to win the next two. A late-fight takedown and flurry of elbow strikes secured the victory, which came via judges' scores of 29-28.

Starnes, meanwhile, is now 4-4 since his UFC release in 2008.

In the Ringside MMA 10 co-main event, "The Ultimate Fighter 11" cast member Seth Baczynski (13-6) picked up his third win in four fights with a second-round TKO of Alex Garcia (6-1). Baczynski, a former IFL fighter who served as an MMAjunkie.com "TUF" blogger, earned the organization's interim welterweight title with the win.

In other action:

• At Friday's "MFC 29: Conquer" event at The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor in Canada, welterweight champion Douglas Lima (18-4) retained his title with a 74-second TKO of UFC vet Terry Martin (21-9) that was set up by an overhand right. Additionally, light-heavyweight champion Ryan Jimmo (15-1) retained his title with a unanimous-decision victory over Strikeforce and Bellator vet Zak Cummings  (13-3) at the HDNet-televised event.
• Also on the MFC 29 card, Marcus Davis (18-8) picked up a split-decision win over Curtis Demarce (10-9) in his first post-UFC fight. Additionally, fellow UFC vet Hermes Franca (21-11) scored a second-round TKO of Robert Washington (9-3) in a 160-pound catchweight fight, and Pete Spratt (22-19) submitted welterweight Demi Deeds (15-9) in the second round.
• At Friday's "XCage: Predators" event in Tijuana, "The Ultimate Fighter 8" winner Efrain Escudero (16-2) picked up his third consecutive win since a surprising 2010 UFC release with a unanimous-decision victory over one-time WEC and Strikeforce fighter Ashe Bowman (9-9).
• Josh Neer (29-10-1) moved to 4-1 since a 2009 UFC release with a 20-second knockout of Andre Case (1-2) at Saturday's World War Fighting Championship 2 event in Iowa. Neer picked up the WWFC welterweight title with the win.
• UFC and Bellator vet Jake Rosholt (10-3) picked up his third straight win with a first-round TKO of 62-fight veteran Brandon McDowell (32-30). The show co-headlined Friday's Xtreme Knockout 10 event in Texas.
• M-1 vet and Black House welterweight Eduardo Pamplona (14-2) picked up his ninth-straight win with a third-round TKO of Joe Bunch (12-4) at Saturday's Bobish's Ultimate Cage Battles event in Ohio. Pamplona hasn't suffered a loss since an early-2007 IFL defeat to notable Robbie Lawler.
• Former UFC lightweight Matt Grice (13-3) picked up his fourth straight victory with a unanimous-decision win over David Gardner (18-18) at Saturday's Freestyle Cage Fighting 46 event in Oklahoma. On the same card, Ashley Sanchez (2-2) scored a unanimous-decision victory and scored an upset of long-rumored Strikeforce title challenger Erin Toughill (10-3-1). The loss snapped Toughill's four-fight win streak, though she hadn't competed since a May 2009 Palace Fighting show.
• BodogFIGHT and EliteXC veteran Julie Kedzie (16-8) moved to 5-1 over his past six fights with a unanimous-decision victory over Kaitlin Young (4-5) in the headliner of Saturday's Jackson's MMA Series 4 event in New Mexico. Young now has dropped five straight fights since opening her career with a 4-0 mark.