UFC 278: Could This Be The Final Time We See Luke Rockhold?

At 37 years old, the fighting days of Luke Rockhold are dwindling.

Rockhold, a former UFC and Strikeforce champion, will take on Paulo Costa this Saturday night at UFC 278. The event takes place from Salt Lake City, Utah with Kamaru Usman defending his title against Leon Edwards in the main event.

It is kind of hard to believe that it has been six years since Rockhold defended his title against Michael Bisping. He won the belt in 2015 with a finish of Chris Weidman.

Since that time, we have seen less and less of Rockhold. Injuries, issues finding opponents and other things have limited him to just three fights. During that span, he has gone just 1-2, and is now coming off two very tough to watch knockouts.

In 2018, Yoel Romero stopped him in the third round for the interim title. A few months later, it was Jan Blachowicz knocking Rockhold out as he tried his hand at the light heavyweight division.

Thankfully, Rockhold quickly realized that was not for him and will be returning to 185 pounds for this fight.

But how many more times will we see him? Will the UFC even keep Rockhold around if he is unable to get past Costa? The answer is probably not, considering the wear and tear on his body, and his current resume.

If this is the final time we will see Rockhold compete, his career will likely end in the hall of fame. Along with his win over Weidman, Lyoto Machida, Bisping, Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.