Looking Back At UFC 278: Costa vs Rockhold

This middleweight bout was both emotional, and entertaining, for a multitude of reasons. Costa and Rockhold, in the co-main event, had an absolute battle. Rockhold, the former champ, called it a career after the fight, while Costa swept every score card and got the job done (30-27).

In a pretty ridiculous fashion, Rockhold proved how tough and, honestly, crazy he really is. He showed absolutely no fear the entire fight even though he was extremely fatigued early on. Costa landed a couple shots early, but it seemed as if there was no real reason for Rockhold to be as tired as he was. Rockhold was able to show his true fighting spirit and ended the third round in psycho-fashion smearing his blood all over Costa’s face.

Outside of losing the fight, this may have been the best possible way someone could retire. The 37 year-old returned after nearly three years off, and will go down as one of the best middleweights of all time. He became a UFC champion with a knockout win against Chris Weidman, and ended his career with a record of 16-6. Rockhold was in tears after the fight and had some all-time lines in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.

"I've been through so much the last three years..." Rockhold continues, "Thank you to the UFC, but I f---ing can't do this shit anymore. I gave it my all but I'm f---ing old." - Luke Rockhold

As for Costa and the future of his career, it is still unclear as to what his next move is going to be. He did confirm on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani on Monday following his victory, that he did indeed have one more fight remaining on his UFC contract. Costa also said on MMA Hour that he did in fact want to fight in Paris on the September 3 card highlighted by a Heavyweight event between Ciryl Gane and Tai Tuivasa. Also on the card are Middleweight fighters Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori. Perhaps Costa can fit in somewhere in Paris, but it is quite unlikely if he has any interest in fighting an opponent at the top of the division. The top 10 is entirely booked currently, following the confirmation of Sean Strickland vs Jared Cannonier, as well as Derek Brunson being set to take on Jack Hermansson in December. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what is in store next for the former title contender, as Dana White made it pretty clear that he is hoping to sign him to another contract after snapping his 2 fight losing streak in Salt Lake.

However, this fight highlighted just how weak the middleweight division is at the moment. Going into the weekend, Costa was the sixth ranked contender and he was exhausted after two rounds against a 37 year-old. Besides the current champion, Israel Adesanya, and number one ranked contender in Robert Whittaker, there doesn’t seem to be any other true contenders in the division, at the moment.

With this being said, Adesanya is facing off against Alex Pereira, current fifth ranked middleweight contender, and skilled striker with scary knockout power. This fight is set to take place this November in Madison Square Garden to headline UFC 281.

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By: Anthony Ametrano and Matteo Ametrano