Paulo Costa blasts USADA for sending agents to his hotel room at 6am for drug tests: “I was cutting weight very dehydrated and they wants took my blood”

By Susan Cox - August 19, 2022

Paulo Costa is blasting USADA for sending agents to his hotel room at 6am for drug tests.

paulo-costa

USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) is recognized by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as the official, independent anti-doping agency for the UFC.

UFC 278 takes place tomorrow, Saturday, August 20th at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.

It will be Luke Rockhold (16-5 MMA) vs Paulo Costa (13-2 MMA) in the middleweight co-main event.

Rockhold, 37, is entering the Octagon for the first time in 3 years and hasn’t won a fight in the last 5 years.

Costa, 31, will be looking to put his past 2 losses behind him when he gets in the cage with Rockhold.

Paulo Costa took to ‘Twitter‘ today, posting a video of him making weight at 185.5 lbs prior to his middleweight fight tomorrow, and he tweeted:

“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”

According to Costa, USADA showed up at his hotel room to take his blood three hours before the start of the weigh-ins in Salt Lake City. The middleweight fighter was not impressed.

Paulo Costa has had a previous run in with USADA. It’s believed that Costa received prohibited intravenous infusions in June and Nov. 2017, which resulted in a six-month suspension as well as financial penalties from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). It is said by USADA that Costa received an IV of more than 100 mL during a 12-hour period after making weight for his fight against Oluwale Bamgbose at UFC 212 and again after he made weight for his UFC 217 fight with Johny Hendricks in November 2017.

It looks like USADA randomly (?) decided to test Costa prior to his weigh-in for UFC 278.

Do you agree the USADA should test UFC fighters at anytime? Do you believe Paulo Costa has the right to be furious about today’s test?

Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!


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Paulo Costa UFC UFC 278