Paulo Costa’s success and his infamous “Secret Juice” go hand in hand

Paulo Costa has made quite the fan base for himself thanks to his all-action fighting style and his “Secret Juice” It was not too long ago when he was the red dot for every MMA Fan to smear their hate at, fast forward less than two years later, Paulo is an undeniable cult superstar.

Only in Mixed Martial Arts will you ever see a fighter who’s suspected by many to be using performance enhancers openly taunt all the commissions by constantly carrying around a bottle labeled secret juice. While most fans were only introduced to this elixir during the UFC 278 fight week, for those who follow Costa’s Twitter lore, this has been a long-time mainstay.

Costa faced the biggest set-back of his life against Israel Adesanya, when he went from going toe to toe with Yoel Romero for 3 rounds to being decimated by Adesanya in just 2 rounds. While most fighters wouldn’t have recovered their fan base from this debacle, Costa did, thanks to his angry rant in broken English after finding out Israel had humped him after the fight had been stopped.

Related: Paulo Costa shows support for Li Jingliang with captivating visual messages

Paulo Costa’s secret juice is what made him a cult favorite

Since his loss at UFC 253, Costa started maintaining a very active presence on Twitter, responding to and roasting as many people as he can in his replies. Some of these would be considered too unhinged for the internet but they gained him interaction nevertheless.

Shortly before his fight against Marvin Vettori, answering a fan question about what makes him so strong and maintain a good physique. Responding to this, Costa posted a video of him drinking a brownish beverage, introducing it as “Secret Juice.” Costa also managed to cover the tag with a red tape, and said the drink is not for everyone as it’ll make the person, “strong and jacket(jacked) “

While this should’ve been the end of it the term stuck in the Costa fan base’s vocabulary and his openly taunting USADA gained him even more fans. Perhaps his cult status was best noticeable when he refused to cut weight after walking into fight week with 40 pounds of excess weight from the middleweight limit.

Also Read: “Grew a foot long,” Henry Cejudo THANKS Paulo Costa for sharing “Secret Juice” in hilarious post mocking his height

While this should have reasonably driven fans away from a fighter, his Twitter celebrity, mixed with his confident denial that he wasn’t in the wrong in any sense made the fans quickly turn back to him. Moreover, the fight against Marvin delivered on all aspects and all was soon forgiven despite his loss.

The phenomena only broke into the mainstream when Costa accompanied the bottle, with a label of ingredients with him all through fight week. Most notably he carried the bottle out to weigh in, and placed it in a way that the label was visible to the media before he stepped on the scales.

This was in protest of USADA coming to collect his blood samples, while he was in the middle of his weight cut. Needless to say, this act bought him and “Secret Juice” a ton of fans.

Since UFC 278, Costa has carried around that bottle virtually everywhere he goes. He has also set up a fictitious footwear line in honor of his elixir and plans to replace Project Rock as the official footwear partner of the UFC.

Also Read: Paulo Costa finally reveals the ingredients of his famed SECRET JUICE

Stay Updated!

Join our newsletter to receive exclusive updates and curated insights directly to your inbox.

Subscribe NOW