"I will kill him on the ground" - Luke Rockhold says Paulo Costa has "no chance" in upcoming fight at UFC 278

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold faces Paulo Costa in a highly anticipated fight on August 20 at UFC 278. The 37-year-old returns to the octagon after three years following his failed light heavyweight debut in 2019 against Jan Blachowicz.

In a candid interview with Shak MMA, Rockhold spoke about his training and previous shortcomings ahead of the fight. When asked about what he was on the lookout for with a fighter like ‘Borrachinha’, the fromer champion had this to say:

“I mean his power and his ferocity, you know, he’s going to come forward. And you’ve got to be prepared and judge that distance and govern that distance and then make him pay. I mean, I’m a long fighter and I’ve got some long strikes and some outside game and he’s going to have to get through.”

Talking about it further, the Californian elaborated on why he is certain about defeating his Brazilian opponent:

“I believe I can outstrike him, I know I can out wrestle him, and I will kill him on the ground, there’s no chance there.”

Luke Rockhold is absolutely clear that he will decimate Costa owing to his enormous experience and skills as a fighter. However, Paulo Costa is amongst the deadliest middleweight fighters to have defeated Yoel Romero, whom Rockhold has lost against.

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Luke Rockhold admits fame and success led to his string of UFC losses

In the same interview with Shak MMA, Luke Rockhold opened up about his setbacks in the octagon. Despite his championship-level performances, Rockhold suffered two consecutive losses against Yoel Romero and Jan Blachowicz.

While talking about his comeback fight against Paulo Costa at UFC 278, the Ralph Lauren model touched upon his spate of bad luck in the octagon with:

"It comes with the tension and the territory I found myself in these last few years... It's been a long time, man. Ralph Lauren and all these other things... I kind of let them get to my head and I let this s*** weigh on my shoulders."

The West Coast native attributed modeling deals with Ralp Lauren and possibly his time on the reality show The Millionaire Matchmaker to clouding his mentality as a fighter. However, the former Strikeforce champion also went on to talk about his current mindspace as a fighter when he said:

“And I'm not in that place in my life. I'm in a great place and I'm doing this for myself. I was doing it for all the wrong reasons."

While he has proven his mettle in the octagon in the past, at UFC 278 we will find out whether Luke Rockhold can indeed make a comeback.

Check out Luke Rockhold's interesting interview below: