Costa takes surfer Kelly Slater to task for steroid allegations

Surfing legend Kelly Slater recently accused UFC middleweight Paulo Costa of steroid use, and Costa isn’t taking the accusations lightly.

Another day, another steroid allegation for Paulo Costa. The hulking UFC middleweight is no stranger to these sorts of questions about himself, considering his size and success. He says he has faced this ever since he got to the UFC. But strangely, the person that got him to speak out about it was a surfer – a surfing legend in fact – Kelly Slater.

On a UFC Instagram post about Costas’ UFC 226 win over Uriah Hall, Slater decided to pipe up and accuse Costa of using steroids (screen grab via MMA Fighting):

”Didn’t Cung Le get caught because he looked suspect in a photo after a fight? Costa makes Yoel’s physique look almost attainable. If this guy ain’t juiced they shouldn’t bother testing at all.”

It didn’t take Costa long to respond. He spoke to MMA Fighting and defended himself:

“Kelly Slater talked too much, said stupid things. He doesn’t understand how the anti-doping system works in the UFC, he doesn’t know how USADA works, doesn’t understand the USADA policy of testing any fighter at any moment anywhere in the world, blood and urine.

”We do random tests all the time, so if someone says a UFC fighter is fighting on the juice, to me that someone is completely ignorant about MMA, UFC, anti-doping and USADA.”

Costa has been tested 19 times by USADA, and has passed all 19 of those tests. As a clean fighter, he is annoyed by all of the questions and accusations:

“It does bother me because people talk without knowing,” Costa said. “They judge me because I have a good physique, an excellent condition, and think I got this by cheating instead of hard work, diet, effort and sacrifice. I keep working really hard, so it bothers me because they diminish my work and effort. But I know where my results come from, so my conscience is clear.”

Costa (12-0) is now 4-0 in the UFC with four TKO stoppages. He has already picked up two performance bonuses as well.