John McCarthy shares his prediction for Saturday’s UFC 278 co-main event between Luke Rockhold and Paulo Costa: “I’m calling it by stoppage in the third”

John McCarthy is sharing his prediction for Saturday’s UFC 278 co-main event between Luke Rockhold and Paulo Costa.

UFC 278 takes place tomorrow at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Luke Rockhold (16-5 MMA) will enter the Octagon to fight Paulo Costa (13-2 MMA) in the middleweight bout.

Rockhold, 37, the former middleweight champion, has not fought in 3 years and has not had a win in 5 years. His last victory came against David Branch (22-7 MMA) in September of 2017.

Costa, 31, had an extraordinary 13 wins in a row prior to losing back-to-back fights against Marvin Vettori (18-5 MMA) and Israel Adesanya (23-1 MMA).

‘Big’ John McCarthy, 59, the former UFC referee and current co-host of the MMA and combat sports podcast ‘Weighing In’ with Josh Thomson, recently discussed the Rockhold vs Costa fight.

Speaking on an episode of the ‘Weighing In’ podcast, McCarthy shared his prediction saying (h/t Sportskeeda):

“Technique-wise (Rockhold) is every bit as good as him (Costa). The question with Luke Rockhold is, Is Luke able to take a shot anymore? That’s the real question, and that’s the one I’m going to just have to gamble on and say, I think Luke is. I think Luke is back I believe in his ground game, and I think if Luke is smart enough to get the fight to the ground, use his kicks… I think that Luke Rockhold walks away with a win against Paulo Costa, I’m calling it by stoppage in the third.”

McCarthy is betting on Rockhold for the W in the third.

Do you agree with ‘Big’ John’s prediction? Or do you think Costa will emerge the victor tomorrow night?

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