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UFC 278 is set to get going this weekend from the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, August 20. The event starts at 6 pm. ET before the preliminary card at 8 p.m. ET. The main card will begin at 10 p.m. ET and will culminate with Kamaru Usman taking on #2 Leon Edwards with the welterweight title on the line. The second to last fight of the night will see #6 Paulo Costa taking on Luke Rockhold in a middleweight fight.
Both of these fighters are coming off back-to-back losses. For Costa, he enters with a 13-2 record, with these being the first two losses of his career. His bad fortunes started in September 2020. He had won 13 fights in a row and earned a title shot against Israel Adesanya but came up short as he was knocked out in the second round. He was away from the octagon for over a year and returned against Marvin Vettori in October 2021 but came up short again on the wrong side of a unanimous decision.
Rockhold returns to the UFC for the first time since July 2019. His last five fights dating back to 2015 ended in knockouts, and he went 2-3 in those bouts. He won the title off Chris Weidman in 2015 but then dropped it to Michael Bisping in the first round of their fight. His first year-long break followed, and he returned to knock out David Branch in September 2017. Rockhold then had a title match against Yoel Romero in February 2018, which he lost in the third round. Most recently, he took on Jan Blachowicz in July 2019 but was knocked out in the second round. This will be his first fight in over two years.
How to watch Paulo Costa vs. Luke Rockhold
Date: Saturday, August 20
Fight time: Main card starts at 10 p.m. ET
Live stream: ESPN+ PPV
DraftKings Sportsbook Odds/Predictions
Costa: -360
Rockhold: +295
Splits: 68% of handle, 76% of bets on Costa
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