Paulo Costa And Luke Rockhold Exchange Expletive-Filled Jabs Over Steroid Use Ahead Of UFC 278

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UFC middleweights Paulo Costa and Luke Rockhold haven’t had much nice to say about each other ahead of their matchup at UFC 278. Following Friday’s weigh-in, the two fighters exchanged more jabs and this time it was over steroid use.

The UFC 278 official weigh-in saw both Costa and Rockhold make weight, but it wasn’t without controversy. Costa blasted the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for taking his blood while he was still cutting early Friday morning.

According to Costa, a USADA agent had shown up at his door bright and early at 6 AM. The Brazilian, who was in the final hours of his weight cut and extremely dehydrated, didn’t appreciate the visit. He let his frustrations be known by calling out the UFC’s drug testing partner with an expletive-filled statement via Twitter.

All UFC fighters are subject to random drug testing at any moment in the day. But what upset Costa is how inconvenient USADA’s timing was on Friday morning. Shortly thereafter, the Brazilian weighed in at 185.5 lbs and gave a quick “F*ck USADA” after stepping off the scale.

Rockhold saw it as an opportunity to throw more shade in his opponents’ direction and called out Costa’s statement via Instagram. In particular, he nitpicked the way Costa worded his claim of never getting caught by USADA.

“Good to know you’ve never been ‘caught’ using steroids you stupid f*ck,” Rockhold shared on his Instagram story.

While Costa was suspended in 2017 for IV use, he’s never failed a drug test from USADA. So obviously, he wasn’t a fan of the accusations and fired back.

Paulo Costa and Luke Rockhold will get to settle their differences in the UFC 278 co-main event this Saturday. After all this back and forth, it’s shaping up to be an exciting night.