Dana White slams USADA for harassing Paulo Costa at UFC 278: “That’ll never happen again to any fighter”

By Susan Cox - August 22, 2022

Dana White was not happy with USADA for harassing middleweight fighter Paulo Costa at UFC 278.

Dana White, Tony Ferguson

USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) is the the official, independent anti-doping agency for the UFC.

UFC President, Dana White was not pleased to hear that the agency made an early am visit to Paulo Costa prior to his weigh-ins this past Friday. USADA showed up at Costa’s hotel room to take a blood sample from the Brazilian.

It was during the weigh-in’s, where Costa did make weight, that he spoke about the USADA saying:

“F*ck the the boss on Usada who sent their agents this morning at my sleep room 6 am to take my blood out!!! I was cutting weight very dehydrated and they wants took my blood ! F*ck those guys!!! I never been caught by usada test I don’t need this f*ck shit.”

It was indeed this past Saturday, August 20th that UFC 278 took place at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The co-main middleweight event saw Paula Costa (14-2 MMA) enter the Octagon to battle Luke Rockhold (16-6 MMA). The outcome was a unanimous decision win for ‘Borrachinha’.

Paulo Costa Luke Rockhold

(via Zuffa LLC)

At the post fight press conference, UFC President, Dana White weighed in concerning Paulo Costa and the drug testing fiasco saying (h/t MMAJunkie):

“I apologized to him (Costa) up on stage. That will never happen again to any fighter.”

Continuing White said:

“Listen, they don’t know about fighting the way that people who know about fighting know about fighting. You don’t go in and test a guy at six in the morning when he’s cutting weight. The result’s going to be the same a few hours later. You wait. I apologized to him on stage when he came out, and that won’t happen to another fighter again.”

Do you agree that USADA should not be allowed to test a fighter while he’s in the process of cutting weight prior to weigh-ins?

Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!


Topics:

Dana White Paulo Costa UFC UFC 278