'F*ck USADA': Paulo Costa furious over UFC 278 weigh-in day drug test

Ahead of his fight against the former champion, Luke Rockhold, Paulo Costa made the weight without any problems, hitting the scale at 185.5 pounds. But he went on a rant over the promotion’s drug testing partner, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

Costa looked confident and in good shape when he appeared for the scales. He had a bottle tapped with paper labeled as a ‘’secret juice’’. Immediately after going off the scale, Costa blasted over the unnamed official of the US Anti-Doping Agency with his middle fingers up. He claimed that he was irritated by the surprise visit by USADA while he was struggling to make the weight cut.

“The guy went to my bedroom 7am, I was cutting weight, to take my blood,” Costa said after hitting 185.5 pounds on the scale. “F*** USADA.”

Paulo Costa has dealt with a lot of stress ahead of his UFC bouts like having trouble with sleep and drinking a bottle of wine before his title match against Israel Adesanya. He arrived for the main event fight against Marvin Vettori in a bulked-up condition as he could not restrict himself under 186lb. Eventually, both fighters then agreed to fight in the light heavyweight category.

Later, he took over his social media and put a light on his harsh reaction towards USADA during the weigh-in ceremony in Salt Lake City.

USADA partnered with the promotion back in 2015 with the motive to preserve the integrity of the competition, inspire true sport, and protect the rights of athletes. The purpose of the drug testing program is to prevent athletes from using performance-enhancing drugs and it impacts the eligibility of athletes who try to cheat by using banned substances.

Paulo Costa isn’t the only fighter to be upset at the USADA regarding the drug tests at the odd time. Many fighters have spoken before about the inconveniences faced due to USADA's random drug testing. One of them is the current UFC Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski who recently faced a similar issue during his 2nd matchup against Max Holloway. USADA representative appeared on the doorstep hours before the fight when Volkanovski was asleep with the assistance of the melatonin pills. Volkanovski had to drink up a lot of water as he was unable to urinate for the sample.

Urijah Faber is another fighter who became the victim of the USADA. He claimed that the representative of the drug testing agency calls him in the middle of the birth of a child. Recently UFC welterweight champion also expressed his frustration regarding the testing timings as he was unnecessarily woken by USADA at 5 am for a random drug test, despite giving his whereabouts to the agency.

The fighters are raising their voice against the testing timings, not the policy. The fighter had to follow up with the strict routine and disturbing them might affect their preparation plans. They hope that the promotion would take necessary measures and come up with a solution.