By The Numbers: Paulo Costa vs. Luke Rockhold

Paulo Costa will continue his efforts to right a listing ship in the choppy waters of the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division when he welcomes Luke Rockhold back to the Octagon in the UFC 278 co-main event on Saturday at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. Rockhold has not fought in almost 1,200 days.

Costa enters the cage on the heels of back-to-back losses, his viability as a top-flight contender very much in question. He last appeared at UFC Fight Night 196, where he dropped a five-round unanimous decision to Marvin Vettori in their Oct. 23 headliner. Rockhold, meanwhile, also finds himself on a two-fight losing streak. He last competed on July 6, 2019, when he succumbed to second-round punches from Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239.

Ahead of the forthcoming battle between Costa and Rockhold, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

31: Years of age for Costa, who was born on April 21, 1991 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

11: Costa victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 84% of his career total (13). His list of UFC victims: Uriah Hall, Johny Hendricks, Oluwale Bamgbose and Garreth McLellan. Costa holds one other victory by submission (8%)—he put away Eduardo Ramon with a first-round rear-naked choke at Jungle Fight 87 in 2016—and one more by decision (8%).

32: Seconds needed for Costa to dispatch Ademilson Borges Duarte with a head kick and follow-up punches at Upper Fight MMA Championship 2 on June 15, 2013. More than nine years later, it remains his fastest finish to date.

6: Organizations for which Costa has suited up as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 5-2 in the UFC, 3-0 in Jungle Fight, 2-0 in Face to Face, 1-0 in BH Fight, 1-0 in Upper Fight MMA Championship and 1-0 MMA Total Combat.

.854: Cumulative winning percentage between the two opponents—Vettori and Israel Adesanya—who have beaten Costa. They boast a combined record of 41-6-1.

37: Years of age for Rockhold, who was born on Oct. 17, 1984 in Santa Cruz, California.

8: Rockhold wins by submission, accounting for 50% of his career total (16). His methods of choice: five rear-naked chokes, one armbar, one guillotine choke and one inverted triangle kimura. Rockhold owns six other wins by knockout or technical knockout (37%) and two more by decision (13%).

175: Days spent by Rockhold as undisputed UFC middleweight champion. He captured the title on Dec. 12, 2015 and relinquished it on June 4, 2016, making it the fourth-shortest reign in the history of the company’s 185-pound weight class behind Georges St. Pierre (33 days), Dave Menne (105 days) and Evan Tanner (119 days).

10: First-round stoppages on the Rockhold resume, with two of them having taken place in the UFC. He brought down Costas Philippou with a body kick in 2:31 at UFC Fight Night 35 in January 2014 and took out Tim Boetsch with an inverted triangle kimura in 2:08 at UFC 172 in April 2014.

102: Combined victories between the five opponents—Blachowicz, Yoel Romero, Michael Bisping, Vitor Belfort and Tony Rubalcava—who have defeated Rockhold. They sport a cumulative .723 winning percentage (102-39).