Luke Rockhold details what went wrong in his fight against Paulo Costa at UFC 278
Luke Rockhold retired from the sport of MMA after his loss to Paulo Costa at UFC 278. It was an emotion-charged moment as fans and fellow peers poured their love and appreciation to the former middleweight champion of the UFC. However, now that he’s had time to reflect on his loss and performance, Rockhold is second-guessing his decision.
In the co-main event, Luke Rockhold and Paulo Costa delivered one of the most exciting fights that earned him the ‘fight of the night’ bonus. The fight was packed with action right from the start. The fight began with Rockhold trying to take Costa down which unfortunately for him did not work out well. Costa reversed the position, got him into an arm tie and landed nasty uppercuts from the position.
This wounded Rockhold’s nose pretty bad and he was forced to breathe from his mouth for the remaining fight. There were moments in the fight where it felt like Rockhold could not continue. A little push from his coaching team, and a cheer from the crowd pushed the former middleweight champion to continue fighting.
The most bizarre moment came in the third round when Rockhold sprayed his blood on Costa’s face from the top position. He even managed to land some big punches, but in the end, he was too spent and Costa capitalized on it to coast through a decision victory.
Luke Rockhold reflects on loss against Paulo Costa
Rockhold recently spoke to MMA Junkie Radio and detailed what went wrong in his fight against Costa. The American claimed that Costa kept punching his nose that made things difficult for him.
“He kept breaking my nose. I was like, ‘F**king c*nt.’ He broke my nose on the first punch then he took me down right after he broke my nose, so I was like, my equilibrium was all off….I was like, ‘What is going on right now?’ I was trying to find myself like ‘Why am I not working right now? What’s wrong with my body?’ As soon as I got up, it started to hit me a little bit. Then he kept f**king punching me in the nose, kept breaking my nose. Every time he’d hit me, my nose would shift. Like, f**k!”
Rockhold added that despite the back-and-forth he’s had with the UFC top-brass and times when he second guessed things, he’s proud of how his career panned out.
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