No one talking about Costa's ground game

[Koro_11]

I know the cool thing to do today is for once praise Luke Rockhold for toughing it out to the final bell, and I admit I gained some respect for him in that fight for staying in there and making it crazy even though he had every reason to fold and quit.

That said let's not pretend this was some back n forth war or close fight in any way, I mean Costa for the most part steamrolled him wherever the fight went, and although he took a few good shots here and there, it was a pretty dominant win overall.

I feel a big difference was his grappling, in the early rounds they spent some time on the ground and it was all Costa. I heard so much hyperbole about Luke's ground game from big mouth DC and Luke himself of course, but Costa looked like the superior grappler to me.

I know everyone wants to talk about Luke, but Costa is a pretty well rounded fighter in pretty much all aspects. I know we can't forget him shitting the bed against Izzy, but damn he will be a really tough fight for anyone else imo.

 

[JustOnce]

Costa's TDD looked phenomenal against Romero. I do wonder however, if Luke's cardio held up and/or it wasn't in Utah, I wonder how fight could have gone.

 

[Black Blood]

Great fight! Yeah, I was commenting on that to my buddy. Costa's top game looked pretty solid.

Props to Luke. I wonder what sort of fight we could have gotten if Luke hadn't been out since 2019...

 

[gaffbyknees2]

His blood taking abilities looked good.

 

[Conan the K-9]

I feel a big difference was his grappling, in the early rounds they spent some time on the ground and it was all Costa. I heard so much hyperbole about Luke's ground game from big mouth DC and Luke himself of course, but Costa looked like the superior grappler to me.

Finally someone else talking about this too!
And agree, I don’t know if it was Luke gassing or just being afraid of gnp or what it was, but Costa dominated the ground game easily.

I have heard enough of that AKA top pressure hype and being better than Demian Maia in bjj , I don’t believe any of their silly gym stories <45>

 

[AndrewGolota48]

Costa's TDD looked phenomenal against Romero. I do wonder however, if Luke's cardio held up and/or it wasn't in Utah, I wonder how fight could have gone.

That cardio issued looked like more than elevation. Maybe elevation plus the 3 year layoff, but even that almost can't fully explain it. He looked like Houston Alexander vs Kimbo at the end of their fight after one round, and it wasn't THAT crazy of a pace.

 

[Koro_11]

Finally someone else talking about this too!
And agree, I don’t know if it was Luke gassing or just being afraid of gnp or what it was, but Costa dominated the ground game easily.

I have heard enough of that AKA top pressure hype and being better than Demian Maia in bjj , I don’t believe any of their silly gym stories <45>

Yeah AKA is just annoying in their praise of themselves, it's nice that they're all done and retired now. Hopefully Charlie can catch Makhachev in a sub and that will be the final nail in the coffin.

 

[smiles mma]

I don't think Costa looked as good as Luke looked like shit in his grappling compared to his prime.
Looked like Luke didn't want to be there was forcing himself to attack periodically. Kinda kicking him while he's down, but he should have called it one(4) fights sooner

 

[Koro_11]

I don't think Costa looked as good as Luke looked like shit in his grappling compared to his prime.
Looked like Luke didn't want to be there was forcing himself to attack periodically. Kinda kicking him while he's down, but he should have called it one(4) fights sooner

By that same logic perhaps we could say that Luke's ground game was never good either, and it was just his opponents looking like shit when they were fighting him.



However you wanna slice it, he got thoroughly outgrappled and Costa looked good there.

 

[Candy Routure]

He was grappling a a dude that couldn’t lift his arms..

Luke was basically allowing mount so he could slip out the back. Costa obviously has skill and strength, but if those two were to grapple it wouldn’t look like that.

 

[Koro_11]

He was grappling a a dude that couldn’t lift his arms..

Luke was basically allowing mount so he could slip out the back. Costa obviously has skill and strength, but if those two were to grapple it wouldn’t look like that.

Most of the grappling happened in the first round.

Luke didn't get outgrappled cause he couldn't lift his arms, more like he couldn't lift his arms BECAUSE he got outgrappled so bad in the beginning of the fight.

 

[josh345]

yeah i was pretty shocked. lukes top game and scrambles were phenomenal against weidman. costa is just fucking shredded man lol. i think rock hold has clearly lost a step though.

That being said.... costa's guard passes were shockingly good.

 

[Conan the K-9]

Hopefully Charlie can catch Makhachev in a sub and that will be the final nail in the coffin.

That will be a beautiful day!

That cardio issued looked like more than elevation. Maybe elevation plus the 3 year layoff, but even that almost can't fully explain it. He looked like Houston Alexander vs Kimbo at the end of their fight after one round, and it wasn't THAT crazy of a pace.

He got caught with quite a few body shots and that has a big impact on the gas tank aswell. I don’t know if his nose was broken too, so not an easy night for Luke.

 

[AndrewGolota48]

That will be a beautiful day!


He got caught with quite a few body shots and that has a big impact on the gas tank aswell. I don’t know if his nose was broken too, so not an easy night for Luke.

I suspected the latter but then he didn't mention anything, maybe he's just too old school manly to make an "excuse".

 

[jeff7b9]

Costa did his job.

They were both gassed and Luke was practically a corpse in there, but Costa did his job.

Fight was sloppy as fuck. Had to be one of the sloppiest non HW/WMMA fights in a while.

 

[Nickmerc]

I know the cool thing to do today is for once praise Luke Rockhold for toughing it out to the final bell, and I admit I gained some respect for him in that fight for staying in there and making it crazy even though he had every reason to fold and quit.

That said let's not pretend this was some back n forth war or close fight in any way, I mean Costa for the most part steamrolled him wherever the fight went, and although he took a few good shots here and there, it was a pretty dominant win overall.

I feel a big difference was his grappling, in the early rounds they spent some time on the ground and it was all Costa. I heard so much hyperbole about Luke's ground game from big mouth DC and Luke himself of course, but Costa looked like the superior grappler to me.

I know everyone wants to talk about Luke, but Costa is a pretty well rounded fighter in pretty much all aspects. I know we can't forget him shitting the bed against Izzy, but damn he will be a really tough fight for anyone else imo.

If you watched that fight and think costa is even good you don’t know What you’re watching Lmao. Both guys literallt had 3 minutes of gas. Costas grappling!?! He was fighting a person who couldn’t move.. and did nothing!

 

[chimpoehurricane]

That cardio issued looked like more than elevation. Maybe elevation plus the 3 year layoff, but even that almost can't fully explain it. He looked like Houston Alexander vs Kimbo at the end of their fight after one round, and it wasn't THAT crazy of a pace.

Not a fan but at 37, he's not anywhere near his former self. Looked like he took Vitor's kick after rd1. It's amazing he wasn't ended.

 

[JonnyBonesPharmacist]

Luke showed alot of heart, but he was zapped halfway through round one. Elevation and age got him more than Costas great grappling.

 

[Koro_11]

If you watched that fight and think costa is even good you don’t know What you’re watching Lmao. Both guys literallt had 3 minutes of gas. Costas grappling!?! He was fighting a person who couldn’t move.. and did nothing!

Oh yeah I don't know what I'm watching, tell me what I'm watching you newb, I probably forgot more about martial arts than you will ever know.

 

[DustyWarrior]

It was a weird fight and they both looked kind of shit. Rockhold gassed very fast indeed and he was barely clinging on in rounds 2 and 3, there were numerous times where he looked close to collapsing.
Costa also seemed to gas, and for whatever reason couldn't put Rockhold away and was still getting hit by some very big shots despite Rockhold being slow and gassed.