UFC 278 co-main event
The fight will take place on August 21 in Salt Lake City (Utah, USA) at the Vivint Arena and will become the co-main event of the UFC 278 PPV tournament. The estimated start of the fight is 06:30 am Kyiv time. The fight will be broadcast live on Setanta Sports.
In middleweight, former UFC title contender Paulo Costa (13-2), who is ranked 6th in the ranking, will fight former UFC champion in this division Luke Rockhold (16-5).
Costa will return after two defeats in a row. In September 2020, he was knocked out by Israel Adesanya in a title fight, and 13 months later, the Brazilian lost by unanimous decision after five rounds to Marvin Vettori in his light heavyweight debut, although the fight was originally planned to take place in middleweight, but the weight limits were changed due to the preponderance of Costa. The last time Costa won was three years ago when he passed Yoel Romero on points.
Rockhold has also lost his last two fights and hasn’t won in almost five years. In February 2018, Rockhold was knocked out by Yoel Romero. The following July, Luke decided to make his debut in the light heavyweight division, but Jan Blachowicz overshadowed his debut by finishing ground and pound in the second round. In November, Rockhold was scheduled to fight Sean Strickland at UFC 268, but Luke suffered a herniated disc and pulled out of the fight.
Prediction for the fight
It is obvious that Rockhold as a top fighter has long been decommissioned. Over the past six years, the 37-year-old veteran has won only once. He is no longer in the shape to compete with the best middleweights.
And Costa is undoubtedly still one of them. Rockhold’s chin is failing, he has been knocked out four times in the UFC, and “Eraser” is just as dangerous as a hard knockout puncher in the first place. If Costa has no weight problems and the weight race goes without much damage to his health, then he has a good chance to come back with a victory. We believe that sooner or later Costa will catch the opponent with a punch and that will be the end of it.
Costa wins by knockout in the 1st round
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