“Always talking never fighting” – Slated for a return, Paulo Costa’s post-USADA tease yet again gets barbed down by fans

“Always talking never fighting” – Slated for a return, Paulo Costa’s post-USADA tease yet again gets barbed down by fans

Paulo Costa, who fights at UFC 298 next, uplaods new muscular snaps (Source: Twitter)

With a new year comes new beginnings for UFC’s drug testing pools. Promotion head honcho Dana White/legal chief Hunter Campbell anointed George Piro as the new drug-testing helmsman. Drug-Free Sports International (DFSI), Sports Medicine and Research Testing Laboratory (SMRTL), and the Combat Sports Anti-Doping Agency (CSAD) are the new tools of regulation now. As such, UFC released its list of toned-down ‘prohibited drugs’. But with the split, fighters and their buff demeanor are all the rage; Paulo Costa is no exception. However, fans have reacted to the fighter’s new updates before UFC 298. and on pulling out against Khamzat Chimaev.

“Borrachinha” was to fight Chimaev at UFC 294, but pulled out due to a serious case of staph infection. So instead, former P4P king Kamaru Usman hashed it out with the fighter. Consequently, this marks one of the several occasions in which the 14-2 middleweight has withdrawn from a fight card. Fans have thus not been kind to “pullout Costa”. A prominent reaction to his latest post on X mocked – “Paulo always talking never fighting“.

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The fighter habitually and openly advertises his “secret juice” – an Internet rant about his use of performance-enhancing drugs. Costa himself cues in the rhetoric in many of his social media posts. The latest one sees him touting a vest with the same wordings and buff musculatures.

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Conversely, and funnily enough, Costa is UFC’s most tested athlete. USADA updated its list with “Borrachinha” as #1 in October of last year. Costa now has 36 samples submitted to the testing pool, thus fuelling his buffed-up confidence. This does not prohibit the sneering fans though.

Fans react to Paulo Costa’s brawny new snapshots on Twitter

Paulo Costa has had quite the amount of downtime on his hands. The Brazilian was to fight Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294. But in pure “Costa-fashion”, he pulled out; this time due to a staph infection and a third subsequent surgery. Rehabilitating, the fighter had been in the best of shapes. He faces Robert Whittaker next at UFC 298. But his third subsequent post-USADA split tweet, flaunting his muscular poise, has garnered much attention.

Fans jibe at Paulo Costa's tweet, on his UFC 294 pullout with Khamzat Chimaev
Fans jibe at Paulo Costa’s tweet, on his UFC 294 pullout with Khamzat Chimaev (Source: Twitter/IMAGO)

Even before the UFC-USADA split, the rift was no secret. A plethora of tested fighters were against the strict policies posed by the testing pools. After falling victim to USADA’s sudden testing schedule, even Jiri Prochazka recently rejoiced in such a split. Costa is the same. Check out a few reactions to his recent post, below.

https://twitter.com/BDThredz/status/1743523389162053689?s=20

A handful of fans have not shied away from gibing at “Pullout Costa“. The common consensus still lies in dissing the fighter for pulling out against Chimaev. Recently, Costa himself made a callout before UFC 298, labeling the rival “gourmet Chechen“; Chimaev, who himself is reeling from personal healthcare issues, is yet to answer back.

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