"He retired - we have to take that back!" - Luke Rockhold has never been in higher demand despite loss to Paulo Costa, explains Chael Sonnen

Luke Rockhold announced his retirement from the sport in the aftermath of a grueling decision loss to Paulo Costa at UFC 278. Rockhold called it a career after nine years with the UFC and 15 years as a professional. However, Chael Sonnen believes that the former UFC middleweight champion has never been in higher demand than he is now.

Speaking on an edition of Beyond the Fight on his YouTube channel, 'The Bad Guy' weighed in on Rockhold's latest slugfest against 'Borrachinha'. He stated that he finds the former champion to be more exciting than ever.

Here's what Sonnen said:

"I would never be more excited to hear from Luke, to see from Luke, to get to know Luke, and to watch Luke than I am tonight. He doesn't know it was a great performance. He retired - we have to take that back. There's never a time we wanted to see Luke more."

Watch Chael Sonnen discuss Luke Rockhold vs. Paulo Costa below:

During the episode, Sonnen also stated that Rockhold, 37, was arguably the biggest star on the UFC 278 card. 'The American Gangster' noted that the American commanded a lot of media attention in the lead-up to his bout. He was asked more questions at the pre-fight presser than anyone else.

With his recent defeat against Costa, Rockhold was handed a third consecutive loss inside the promotion. Prior to Saturday night, the former champion suffered back-to-back knockouts at the hands of Jan Blachowicz and Yoel Romero.

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Did Paulo Costa fight out of UFC contract with win over Luke Rockhold?

While Luke Rockhold retired after his loss to Paulo Costa on Saturday, 'Borrachinha' could be on his way out of the UFC. Speaking at the post-fight press conference, the Brazilian stated that he is unaware whether his current UFC contract is up.

However, Costa believes that there could be one last fight left on his deal after his win over Luke Rockhold. Here's what the 31-year-old said:

"I don’t know if this is my last fight. I need to check with my people. If this is the last fight, so I have no more on the contract, I need to sit down and put attention and look what is best for my future. If I have one more, let’s see what Dana White has for me. I’m pretty sure they do an amazing job making exciting fights happen."

During the media interaction, Costa expressed interest in fighting on the UFC Rio card in Brazil in January. However, he also revealed that there are some exciting opportunities outside of the promotion that he and his team might look into

Catch Paulo Costa's full interaction with the media at the UFC 278 post-fight presser below: