With the UFC parting ways with the United States Anti-Doping Agency at the end of 2023, many fighters are celebrating. That includes middleweight contender Paulo Costa whose ‘secret juice’ no longer needs to be a secret.
Costa has been dominating the headlines as of late after he was pulled from his highly anticipated clash with Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 on October 21. ‘The Eraser’ revealed that he had undergone surgery after contracting bursitis in his elbow. Unfortunately, the infection did not heal fast enough, forcing the UFC to pull the plug on his long-awaited return.
Instead, former welterweight world champion Kamaru Usman will step up to fight Khamzat Chimaev in Abu Dhabi in what will now be a middleweight title eliminator.
Lost in the shuffle of the UFC 294 shakeup was the reveal that the promotion would be cutting its ties with USADA as of January 1, 2024. The news generated a plethora of varying responses from fighters, including Paulo Costa who suggested that the ‘secret’ in his ‘secret juice’ will no longer be a secret.
“After Usada it will be only Juice. No more secrets,” Costa quipped on X.
After Usada it will be only Juice
. No more secrets https://t.co/Ey2SVo0lR3
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) October 12, 2023
. No more secrets
The Strange Tale of Paulo Costa
All jokes aside, Paulo Costa’s last three years inside the Octagon have been quite the frustrating tale. After coming up short in his lone title opportunity against Israel Adesanya in September 2020, Costa claimed that he was hungover during the fight after drinking a bottle of wine the night before.
He then withdrew from a fight with Robert Whittaker over a contract dispute, and claims to have never agreed to a fight with Jared Cannonier despite the UFC promoting it.
Ahead of his fight with Marvin Vettori, Costa essentially refused to make weight for the middleweight bout and forced the UFC to move it to a 195-pound catchweight and then ultimately to light heavyweight. Then you’ve got his bizarre battle with Luke Rockhold last year, the Ikram Aliskerov drama, and his undergoing surgery weeks before his UFC 294 scrap without informing the UFC.
It’s hard to make sense of anything that has gone on with ‘The Eraser’ in recent years, or why the UFC even bothered to renegotiate his contract, but it’s safe to say that fans are becoming increasingly frustrated by the perceived lack of professionalism that Costa has displayed in recent years.