Luke Rockhold retires from MMA, Paulo Costa snaps two-fight losing skid at UFC 278
Luke Rockhold calls it quits
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, August 20, 2022, for UFC 278, going down live on pay-per-view from the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Headlining the event is a title clash rematch between UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (20-1) and no. 2 ranked Leon Edwards (19-3).
Co-headlining the card is former UFC & Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold (16-5), who returns to the octagon for the first time in over three years tonight to face former title challenger, no. 6 ranked Paulo Costa (13-2).
Rockhold has gone 1-3 over his last four contests, spanning back to him losing the belt in 2016, while Costa has lost his last two-straight coming into tonight’s bout himself. Both men are also natural middleweights that fought their last fights up in the light-heavyweight division, just an interesting fact.
Continue reading to see how this 185 lb encounter went down:
Official Result: Paulo Costa def. Luke Rockhold via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Rockhold opens with a furious pace and gets his thunderous round kicks going. Costa then cracks him with a vicious left hand and bullies him down to the mat, where he dominates the fight for the next couple minutes.
Rockhold is able to work his way up and land some more vicious body kicks toward the end of the round. Rockhold’s nose is busted up and it’s making it difficult for him to breathe, and Costa is pressing him.
Rockhold’s defense looks good for the most part however, and he’s eating what shots do get through whilst landing some nasty kicks and punches of his own. Rockhold has always been more of a kicker, but his hands look good tonight.
Costa lands a low blow toward the end of the second, which gives the former champion some time to catch his breath. He doesn’t have much offense in the last minute of the round though; despite looking good technically, he’s still down on the cards going into the third.
Rockhold stuns Costa twice early on in the third with nasty left hands as Costa is coming onto him, but he shoots on a takedown and gets sprawled upon. Costa spins and winds up on top. He ends up taking Rockhold’s back, before Rockhold spins into his guard with about 30 seconds left.
Aside from his conditioning, Rockhold looked incredible tonight, but Costa came in better shape and out-lasted him. This was one of the best sloppy fights you’ll ever see. One of these men was to snap their two-fight losing skid tonight at UFC 278, and it turned out to be Paulo Costa.
On the contrary, Rockhold showed unbelievable heart tonight, and this is the first defeat of his career not coming via knockout.
After a legendary career, 22-fight career, Luke Rockhold retires from MMA.
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