Although Luke Rockhold was giving thought to retirement, he never took his eyes off the middleweight title picture. Now he gives his thoughts on the upcoming title fight between Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa.
Former UFC middleweight champion Rockhold has had a tough go of it over the last several years, between injuries and three brutal knockout losses. These struggles led him to the point where he was even considering walking away from the sport for good. However he recently decided that he would not be doing that, instead hoping to fight before the end of the year, potentially against Chris Weidman.
Luke Rockhold Predicts Adesanya vs Costa
Naturally someone as competitive as Luke Rockhold never took his eye off of the top of the 185lb, even when he was fighting at light heavyweight. That being said, it only makes sense that he would have some thoughts about the upcoming title fight between Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa. Speaking with Submission Radio, he broke down how he sees this fight going, and he thinks that the challenger has a solid chance to leave as champion.
“I think (Costa) could easily (win),” Rockhold said. “You have the bull and you have the matador, and Israel needs to use his length to get the f–k away. That dude, Paulo Costa, he just comes forward, comes forward with everything he’s got. But Adesanya, he moves real well, he evades well and he tags well. So, you never know, anybody can be hurt.”
Now to be clear, Luke Rockhold is still quite far from another crack at UFC gold. However it is still interesting to hear his thoughts on such a big matchup. Like the rest of us, he genuinely does not seem to know what to expect from the fight between Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa.
