Luke Rockhold goes viral for gangster move vs Paulo Costa at UFC 278 after he retires from MMA

Paulo Costa made a successful return to the UFC Octagon following a lengthy spell of inactivity through injury – but it was bitter rival Luke Rockhold who stole the show.

Rockhold’s pursuit of the light heavyweight title ended in failure in 2019 when he suffered a first-round KO loss to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239.

The former UFC middleweight champion’s first fight since that disappointing night in Las Vegas saw him lock horns with Costa in the co-main event of UFC 278: Kamaru Usman vs Leon Edwards II.

Rockhold was hoping to use the Brazilian, whom he traded verbal barbs with during the build-up to the fight, as a launching pad for a title run at the current champion Israel Adesanya.

READ MORE: UFC 278 results: Leon Edwards stuns Kamaru Usman, Costa beats Rockhold, Aldo loses

However, things didn’t go to plan for the 37-year-old as he suffered a unanimous decision loss in front of a sold-out crowd at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.

But he still managed to put on a good show regardless despite visibly gassing during the latter stages of the fight.

As expected Costa came charging out of the blocks, aiming a vicious lead head kick at his opponent’s jaw.

Check out the video below…

The Fuck You into a wild left hand is what we should remember Luke Rockhold for pic.twitter.com/q9akWjFTMV

A second kick followed moments later before he started throwing some punches, which dropped the unsuspecting Rockhold towards the end of that round.

But despite there being some obvious questions about the strength of his chin it seemed to hold up for the most part as he upped the offensive.

Rockhold didn’t seem to care too much about engaging with Costa in the stand-up, although he was understandably wary of the Brazilian’s power.

Cos