Paulo Costa was recently suspended and fined by two separate athletic commissions, and issued a retroactive six-month suspension by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for prohibited IV use.
Costa used an IV prior to two of his UFC victories over Oluwale Bambose and Johny Hendricks. A video of Costa administering the IV had surfaced online. Speaking to Ag. Fight, Costa revealed the person responsible for leaking the footage was an ex-trainer:
“He was already identified and removed from the team,” Costa said. “This person tried to send it to several people. It’s a tragicomic situation. He hurt himself a lot because he was cut from the team. He was part of the team and betrayed not only my confidence, but every fighter’s (confidence), I believe.
“I don’t know if a trainer can have the confidence of a fighter or a gym owner now because if he does that to one fighter, he’ll do to another. This guy has to be banned from the sport.”
“Borrachinha” would not reveal the name of the trainer, but noted he was blackmailed with the footage for money:
“He tried to use that short moment to hurt me and extort me with that video,” Costa said. “He said, ‘If you don’t give me this amount of money…’ That completely broke the confidence and I obviously didn’t even try to negotiate because I knew what I was doing.
“I had this trainer in the UFC for one fight before, and he did that in the second one. I believe he thought, ‘He’s in the UFC, making a lot of money, I’ll extort him.’ I had worked with him four or five years before (joining) the UFC, but there was no extortion because I wasn’t making money [laughs].”
Costa will make his return to the Octagon on August 17 at UFC 241 against Yoel Romero in middleweight action. With a big win over an opponent the caliber of “The Soldier Of God,” Costa could be looking at a title opportunity.
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