Paulo Costa tops USADA list as most tested fighter of the year ahead of return at UFC 294, fans point to ‘Secret juice’
Former middleweight title challenger, Paulo Costa has landed the accolade as the current most tested fighter by anti-doping agency, USADA (United States Ant-Doping Agency) as of this year, ahead of his planned Octagon return at UFC 294 in October.
Costa, who currently holds the number six rank in the official middleweight pile, is slated to make his return at UFC 294 later this year, taking on the undefeated number four ranked welterweight contender, Khamzat Chimaev, in the latter’s return to the middleweight class.
Sidelined since he featured on the main card of UFC 278 back in August of last year, Belo Horizonte native, Paulo Costa turned in a unanimous decision win over former undisputed middleweight titleholder, Luke Rockhold, snapping a winless run of two fights, after consecutive losses to both Israel Adesanya, and Marvin Vettori.
And at the time of publication, Costa, alongside flyweight contender, Charles Johnson – have certainly caught the attention of the above-mentioned anti-doping agency, USADA, with the UFC partners administering a whopping 18 separate tests to the pair since the beginning of 2023.
Paulo Costa tops USADA testing bill this year
Given the relatively high number of tests issued to Costa, the outspoken Brazilian – who has flaunted an apparent concoction, simply labelled “secret juice” in a marketing ploy this year, the sizeable contender has drawn attention to himself as a result, according to fans across social media.
Prior to his booking with the undefeated finisher, Chimaev at UFC 294 later this year in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Costa was expected to fight Dana White’s Contender Series product, Ikram Aliskerov at UFC 291 at the end of alst month in Salt Lake City, Utah, however, confirmed he never put pen to paper on a deal.
UFC 294 takes place on October 21. from the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, with an undisputed lightweight title rematch between champion, Islam Makhachev, and former titleholder, Charles Oliveira set to take main event status.
