"This is not normal for a guy who is so confident" - Paulo Costa believes Luke Rockhold was in 'great shape', but 'stressed' during UFC 278 fight

Paulo Costa believes the anxiety of Luke Rockhold dictated how their UFC 278 fight played out.

The contest garnered "Fight of the Night" honors as well as respect from the combat sports community. However, both men looked fatigued in their three-round war at Salt Lake City.

Talking about Rockhold engaging in a stress-fueled shadow boxing session before the fight, Costa said:

"This is not normal for a guy who is so confident. So I think this time out was a little bit a trap for him because he feel the anxious a lot. But he was in great shape. It's two different things. When the fight start, I think how he was very anxious.When I put him down, he make a lot strength to hold me." [sic]

Paulo Costa continued:

"I felt that. I thought, man, this guy will not keep this hold so hard as he's doing for a long time. When that fight came up on the very first out again, I felt a little bit tired on my arms and in the legs and I was above him. So can you imagine him [being out of shape]?"

Watch the interview/ video below:

Costa seemed to feel like the contest should have been halted when he hurt Rockhold with an alleged bodyshot. However, the in-ring referee gave Rockhold time to recover as the official believed it was an illegal blow.

Costa took to his personal Twitter to plead his case:

The memorable, gutsy performances from both fighters lit the mixed martial arts world up. It ended with Costa winning via unanimous decision and Rockhold retiring from the sport.

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Where does Paulo Costa go from here?

Costa is the number six ranked middleweight contender in the UFC as of this writing. While he did not beat a ranked contender at UFC 278, Costa still bested a former UFC middleweight world champion in Luke Rockhold.

'Borrachinha' is a former UFC middleweight world title challenger and just snapped his two-fight losing skid [Isreal Adesanya and Marvin Vettori].

Marvin Vettori takes on number one middleweight contender Robert Whittaker on September 3. If Whittaker wins, he could be a potential matchup for the Brazilian, as the two are yet to fight in the UFC.

Another top five fighter Jared Cannonier clashes with number seven ranked Sean Strickland on October 15. Plus, Number four ranked Derek Brunson takes on number eight ranked middleweight Jack Hermansson on December 3. The winners of any of those bouts mentioned above could make sense for Paulo Costa after his wildly entertaining victory at UFC 278.