5 reasons why Luke Rockhold could trouble Paulo Costa

#2. Luke Rockhold's cardio

The Californian is a surprisingly tireless fighter despite his wealth of fast-twitch muscle fibers. Rockhold has twice gone five rounds in his Strikeforce days, while his brutal win over Chris Weidman at UFC 194 was a four-round war that never saw Rockhold's cardio drop.

Paulo Costa, on the other hand, is a different story. While the Brazilian possesses serviceable cardio, his high output of strikes means he expends enormous amounts of energy.

Against Yoel Romero, a low-volume counter-striker, Costa's cardio dipped halfway through the 2nd round before truly plummeting in the 3rd. Curiously, Costa is able to retain significant amounts of muscular endurance even when his cardiovascular energy fails him, allowing him to strike with relative power even when tired. However, against Rockhold, Costa's cardio will be truly tested.

Not only does Costa's cardio decrease naturally, but it will struggle even more against Rockhold's savage kicks to the body and his constant clinching that will certainly sap Costa's energy as the Californian leans on him, forcing him to carry his weight.

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#1. Paulo Costa's power is not what it seems

Much is made of Luke Rockhold possessing a glass chin. Similarly, Paulo Costa's punching power is greatly exaggerated due to the latter's high number of KO/TKO wins. However, context matters. Paulo Costa is a high-volume puncher who overwhelms his opponents with a constant barrage of punches and kicks to the head and body. Most of his knockouts arise from the Brazilian simply swarming his foes until they crumble under the violent storm he casts.

Very few of his knockouts are one-punch finishes that knock his foes out cold. In fact, Costa has very few knockouts where he even drops his opponents badly and knocks them unconscious with follow-up punches. His punches are more clubbing blows than one-punch knockout strikes. Thus, Costa does not present the usual power threat that led to most of Rockhold's knockout losses.

Jan Błachowicz is an enormously powerful light heavyweight who cuts down from heavyweight. Yoel Romero is arguably the most explosive fighter in UFC history, with a seismic degree of knockout power. Similarly, Vitor Belfort is a freak athlete who was also on TRT at the time and held the UFC record for the most knockouts in the promotion's history before the rise of Derrick Lewis.

Only Michael Bisping is an outlier, and his knockout came due to a defensive lapse on Rockhold's part. Thus, against Costa, Rockhold will not face the kind of danger that many fight fans might believe he will, affording him a better chance of staying in the bout.