Report: Rockhold vs. Costa targeted for August UFC card

Former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is reportedly returning from a three-year hiatus.

Although the Brazilian was not very fond of the pairing at first, it seems a bout between Paulo Costa and former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will take place in the Octagon.

According to Combate’s report, Rockhold is returning from a three-year hiatus to face ‘Borrachinha’ on card scheduled to take place on August 20.

In his last outing, Rockhold got knocked out by former light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz, back in June 2019. The loss put the 37-year-old on a two-fight losing skid, with a knockout loss to Yoel Romero before that, in February 2018. Luke’s latest win dates back to September 2017, when he defeated David Branch via TKO.

Winless in his last couple of outings, Costa (13-2) will also look to avoid the dreaded three-fight skid when he meets Rockhold. Most recently, the Brazilian dropped a unanimous decision to Marvin Vettori and got knocked out by champion Israel Adesanya before that. The 31-year-old’s last victory happened in August 2019, when he defeated the aforementioned Romero by unanimous decision.

For now, it is unclear whether this pairing will be the main event of a potential Fight Night card or a regular three-round bout. So far, no other bouts for the date have been announced by the promotion or reported by other media outlets.