Paulo Costa plans to “retire” Luke Rockhold at UFC 278: “You are too old”

Paulo Costa believes UFC 278 will be the last time Luke Rockhold fights.

Costa and Rockhold have taken shots at one another ever since their fight was announced. Most recently, at Thursday’s press conference, the two continued to trade barbs, including Costa planning on retiring Rockhold.

“I’m on my primetime. I will f**k this old man up on Saturday,” Costa said at the UFC 278 press conference. “He is visibly uncomfortable because he knows he will face a monster. He knows already. Look at him, He’s uncomfortable. I will retire him on Saturday.”

Paulo Costa didn’t stop there, as after Luke Rockhold accused him of previously ducking the fight, the Brazilian vowed to retire ‘Rocky’ this coming Saturday night.

“Come on, this guy is too old to say this kind of bulls**t. Come on. You are too old to say this kind of bulls**t. He can say this bulls**t. I don’t feed on an older man like he is,” Costa added. “It doesn’t matter on the day of the fight. We will be close in the same cage, just me and him and we will see who has more energy, who has more power and more will to win this fight.”

Paulo Costa (13-2) has not fought since October when he suffered a decision loss to Marvin Vettori in his first fight since losing to Israel Adesanya by TKO for the middleweight belt. In his UFC career, Costa is 5-2 with his wins coming over Yoel Romero, Uriah Hall, Johny Hendricks, Oluwale Bamgbose, and Garreth McLellan. Costa is also ranked sixth at middleweight and is also the former Jungle Fight middleweight champ.

Do you think Paulo Costa will defeat Luke Rockhold at UFC 278 on Saturday and retire the former UFC champ?