Paulo Costa vs. Luke Rockhold – Preview & Matchup Analysis

UFC 278: Usman vs. Edwards 2 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 20, 2022, in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. In one of the matchups on the fight card, Paulo “The Eraser” Costa will take on Luke Rockhold in the Middleweight Bout. You can view the full UFC 278 card.

In this post, we will break down Paulo Costa vs. Luke Rockhold matchup. Let’s take look at the fighter’s ages, their height, records, reach, fight stats, and more below ⤵

The 33-year-old, Paulo Costa is coming in with a 13-2-0 record. Costa will be fighting for the first time since a loss via unanimous decision against Marvin Vettori at UFC Fight Night: Costa vs. Vettori in October.

Rockhold, meanwhile, is coming off a KO/TKO loss against Jan Blachowicz on October 23, 2021 at UFC 239: Jones vs. Santos and holds a 16-5-0 record.

Paulo Costa has an orthodox fighting stance with a 72″ reach. The 39-year-old, Luke Rockhold is an southpaw fighter with a 77″ reach. An orthodox fighter stands with their left side forward and jabs with their left hand, the southpaw fighter is the opposite, southpaw stands with their right side forward and jabs with their right hand. In most cases, orthodox fighters are right-handed, if you are left-handed, then you fight southpaw.

Paulo Costa:
→ Costa’s striking accuracy is 59%.
→ Costa lands 6.85 significant strikes per minute.
→ Costa’s takedown accuracy is 50%.
→ Costa’s takedown average is 0.21 per 15 minutes.
→ Costa’s takedown defense is 80%.

Costa comes in with 59% striking accuracy, typically landing about 6.85 significant strikes every minute. On the other side, Rockhold fires at 48% accuracy, landing about 4.18 significant strikes per minute. Paulo Costa also has a 50% takedown accuracy and on average gets around 0.21 takedowns every 15 minutes, compared to Rockhold’s 0.67 takedowns and 68% takedown accuracy.

Luke Rockhold:
→ Rockhold’s striking accuracy is 48%.
→ Rockhold lands 4.18 significant strikes per minute.
→ Rockhold’s takedown accuracy is 30%.
→ Rockhold’s takedown average is 0.67 per 15 minutes.
→ Rockhold’s takedown defense is 68%.

Luke spent on average 7:22 minutes in the Octagon and Paulo has an average fight time of 10:03 minutes.

This looks like an exciting matchup, at least on paper. UFC 278 is live in , who do you think will win, Paulo or Luke? Sound off in the comments.

You can view the scheduled UFC 278 fight card, upcoming UFC schedule 2021, and latest MMA news.