Paulo Costa wasn’t a fan of Luke Rockhold rubbing his blood in his face during their fight at UFC 278.
There was already some bad blood between the two, but in the final seconds of their contest on Saturday, things took another turn. Bloodied, Rockhold was on top of Costa and decided to press and rub his face against Costa’s, smearing his blood all over the Brazilian. Many on social media thought it was a cool moment, but Costa thought it was disgusting and wasn’t happy with it.
Smearing Blood on Paulo Costa Wasn’t the First Weird Thing Luke Rockhold Has Done In the Octagon
“I didn’t see it in the moment of the fight,” Costa said after UFC 278. “I just felt something on my face, but I was so worried about blocking his arms to not get elbowed in the face and punched. But I felt something. Now, when I saw, it’s a very disgusting scene. It’s a very weird moment.”
Costa says he’s uncertain why Rockhold did that, as he thought it was gross and forced the Brazilian to take a long shower after the fight.
“I saw the moment where [Yoel] Romero kisses [Rockhold] after beating him, as well,” Costa said. “That was the weirdest moment that I had seen, but this beat that moment. I don’t know why Luke did that. Maybe he was so frustrated and angry because he was losing the fight. But I took a very long shower after the fight.”
What’s Next for Paulo Costa?
Although Costa was frustrated by Rockhold rubbing his blood in his face, he did get the decision-win to snap his two-fight losing skid. Both he and Rockhold even earned an extra $50,000 for producing the Fight of the Night. The Brazilian had entered the fight losing to Marvin Vettori by decision and suffered a TKO loss to Israel Adesanya for the belt.
Even though Costa returned to the win column and beat a former champion, he is a free agent and says he will need to get a new deal. If he does get a new deal, the goal is to return next January at the UFC card in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
I’d like to fight in December or end of November,” Costa concluded. “But I know we have UFC Rio in Brazil in January, so maybe I can wait a little more. I don’t know if this is my last fight. I need to check with (my team), 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. They know how to eat.”
