"Does Luke still have it?" - 'Big' John McCarthy unveils both fighters' route to victory in Luke Rockhold vs. Paulo Costa bout

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From left to right: Luke Rockhold, John McCarthy, and Paulo Costa [ Image credits: UFC.com and Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC ]

With the middleweight showdown between Luke Rockhold and Paulo Costa fast approaching, 'Big' John McCarthy gave insight into the clash and revealed the two competitors' path to victory in the fight.

'Borrachinha' hopes to end his bad run of form in the octagon and get himself back into the winner's column against the former UFC 185 pound champion. After suffering his first loss in the sport of MMA during his title brawl against Israel Adesanya, the Brazilian then fell short on the judges' scorecard in his bout with Marvin Vettori.

While discussing the matchup with Josh Thomson on their YouTube series, John McCarthy explained why both men have a great chance at walking away with their hands raised following their scheduled match later this month.

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"Paulo Costa vs. Luke Rockhold. I wanna see Luke Rockhold — I wanna see where he's at. This fight is gonna really have a lot to say. Does Luke still have it, is he back, and the guy can actually possibly have a chance at vying for that title, or is it really just passed him by?... I think that the only way that Costa is gonna beat Luke is on the feet, knocking him out. And the only way that I see Luke getting a solid win here is to take him off of his feet, use his incredible grappling that he does have, and get a submission victory."

The Costa has many years left in the tank and will hope to rely on his educated plans and devastating knockout power when he stands across the cage from the veteran Rockhold.

Check out what John McCarthy had to say about the much-anticipated middleweight bout in the video below:

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Is this Luke Rockhold's last chance to become a UFC champion?

After once being considered the greatest active middleweight in the world, Luke Rockhold took a huge fall from grace after his shocking knockout loss to Michael Bisping six years ago.

In his past four outings, the 37-year-old has lost more than his entire career prior, which leaves the well-rounded fighter in arguably the toughest position during his time in MMA. One more loss could spell the end for his time with the UFC and —with him edging closer to the age of 40 — possibly the sport as a whole.

The American Kickboxing Academy athlete will put his future and potentially his time in mixed martial arts on the line when he faces the dangerous Paulo Costa on August 20.

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