Luke Rockhold is preparing to fight the winner of Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira should he defeat Paulo Costa at UFC 278 on Saturday.
The former UFC middleweight champion returns to the Octagon for the first time in three years following a second-round KO loss to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239 in his only light heavyweight appearance. The time away was needed for Rockhold as he ultimately opted against retirement and readied himself for one more championship opportunity in his original division.
Rockhold has a tough test ahead of him in Costa, the heavy-handed Brazilian who finished all but one of his opponents in his first 13 fights.