"Didn’t have a chance to take a selfie with this motherf***er in cage" - Paulo Costa takes hilarious "selfie" with Luke Rockhold
Paulo Costa and Luke Rockhold left it all in the octagon in their UFC 278 bout. The two middleweights put on a memorable and chaotic fight that saw Costa emerge victorious.
The fight went the distance and did not see a finish despite both fighters throwing big strikes throughout. However, they both seemed fatigued right after the first round, which led to an unconventional fight with neither of the middleweights clearly dominating.
That said, Costa did enough to beat the aging Rockhold. The two middleweights could not get together for a picture after their bloody brawl. But Costa made up for it by taking a different kind of selfie with Rockhold while rewatching the UFC 278 broadcast. Adding to his hilarious Twitter feed, Costa posted a picture standing next to Rockhold's image on his TV with the caption:
"Didn’t have a chance to take a selfie with this motherf****r in cage so I ll do now watching that fight . Thanks sir"
Check out his tweet below:
Didn’t have a chance to take a selfie with this motherfucker in cage so I ll do now watching that fight . Thanks sir 🙏😭 https://t.co/QmnYhFpv1Y
The American veteran announced his retirement from combat sports after the 'Fight of the Night' brawl. Rockhold spoke to Joe Rogan in the octagon interview and emotionally declared:
"I've been through so much last few years. Thank you fighting, thank you UFC, thank you Joe. I f*****g can't do this s**t anymore. I gave it my all and I just didn't- I'm f*****g old."
Watch Luke Rockhold's octagon interview below:
Paulo Costa targets early 2023 return to action
With the win against Luke Rockhold, Paulo Costa salvaged a two-fight skid and returned to winning ways. However, his hopes of rebuilding the title charge will have to wait as he sustained a fracture to his right hand during the UFC 278 fight.
In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, 'Borrachinha' explained that he underwent successful surgery on the hand and elaborated on its nature:
“I thought I had a bone injury or maybe ligaments, but what really happened was a fracture to the metacarpal bone. I hoped it wasn’t a fracture because then I would be able to come back to fighting again in 50 or 60 days and use all the conditioning and the whole camp I’ve done.”
He also stated that this sets back any potential matchups he hoped for this year and that he might return in 2023. Hoping to return to action in Rio de Janeiro, Paulo Costa said:
“I planned on fighting in 60 days but it won’t be possible. I’ll have to fight in December or January. We’ll have a UFC card in Rio so maybe it happens there. It’s up to the UFC.”
The former number one contender will nevertheless hope to build on this victory and get his fighting rhythm back. In the last three years, he has only fought once per year and will look to change that first and foremost if he hopes to challenge Israel Adesanya once again.
Watch Paulo Costa's complete YouTube video on his channel: