Luke Rockhold wants to ‘rip the soul’ from Paulo Costa’s body at UFC 278 and show he’s still a top dog in octagon return
LUKE ROCKHOLD plans to take the "soul" of top middleweight contender Paulo Costa to prove he's still a force to be reckoned with.
The former UFC and Strikeforce 185lb champion makes his long-awaited return to the octagon on Saturday night against the hard-hitting Brazilian in the co-main event of UFC 278 in Salt Lake City.
Rockhold will jump in the cage with the former title challenger on the back of a THREE-YEAR layoff but is relishing taking on one of the division's most dangerous challenges straight away.
The 37-year-old told SunSport: "He's a killer, no doubt. He's one of the best, he's one of the top guys in the game.
"And I'm not here to dabble in life. And if I'm still the best in this game, I'm still the best in this game.
"I want to go straight for the jugular. Like I always do in life, I always go straight for the throat."
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Costa's pre-fight antics and social media shenanigans in recent years put him in the crosshairs of Rockhold, who is far from a fan of the outspoken Brazilian.
He continued: "Paulo is a guy - I don't like his personality. I don't like him as a person, him as a fighter and it's gonna get me up. It's gonna scare me.
"I like to do what scares me. And he's a scary individual, no doubt. But at the same time, he's reached adversity. As have I."
Both Rockhold and Costa enter their showdown on the back of two-fight skids.
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Rockhold lost his last outings to Yoel Romero and Jan Blachowicz, while Costa came up short against Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori.
And testing himself against a top contender with a point to prove is exactly the type of fight Rockhold wants at this stage of his career.
He said: "It's a challenge on mental strength. I want to see what he is and I want to see what he brings.
"And I love that adversity of testing myself against the guy that's going through adversity too but is still at the top of the game.
"So this is just a beautiful thing to test a man's soul. And feel like I'm getting stronger as this fight gets closer. And I feel like he's weakening."
Rockhold hasn't tasted victory since a vicious beatdown of David Branch in September 2017.
And he's predicting a similar outcome when he drags man-mountain Costa to the octagon canvas.
He said: "I'm going to threaten him on the outside and threaten him on the inside. If he gets too close to me; no one wants to get too close to me.
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"Because if I get a hold of you and you end up falling, this fight is over. There's no man that exists beneath me for any period of time.
"I feel like I'm gonna hurt him on the feet and then I feel like I'm going to finish him on the ground. I'm going to rip the soul from that man's body.