Paulo Costa is "glad" about USADA exit after series of intrusive early-morning visits in 2022

The UFC is cutting its ties with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) by the end of the year, and Paulo Costa, for one, is pleased with the decision.

USADA will stop administering the premier MMA promotion's anti-doping program by December 31. The relationship between the independent tester and the UFC became strained after Conor McGregor's re-entry to the testing pool.

The Irish superstar must undergo six months of mandatory testing before he is allowed to compete.

In October, the agency's CEO, Travis Tygart, issued a statement claiming that the UFC had approached them to make an exemption for 'The Notorious.' After an unproductive meeting, the anti-doping agency refused and ended its tenure with the UFC.

Amidst USADA's scathing claims, UFC CBO Hunter Campbell hit back, clarifying that the MMA promotion initiated the corporate estrangement and not vice versa.

Regardless of who pulled the plug, Paulo Costa seems over the moon about the development. 'Borrachinha' is one of the most tested athletes on the roster and has hit back at the agency in the past for turning up at this doorstep in the wee hours.

In a new post on X, the Brazilian celebrated the end of USADA's tenure with the UFC, writing:

"I don't miss USADA 🧃👋 byeeeee."

The former middleweight title challenger doubled down on his sentiment in the comments section:

"And pls take out with that ugly jacket with [yo]u mtfks."

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When Dana White apologized to Paulo Costa for bizarre USADA testing

Paulo Costa has long been a harsh critic of USADA, and there are legitimate reasons for this. In the lead-up to his fight at UFC 278, the drug tester showed up at his doorstep while he was cutting weight for his fight.

This led to some unpleasantries at the event weight-ins, where Costa flipped off the agency after successfully tipping the scales.

During the post-fight presser for the event, UFC CEO Dana White revealed that he had already apologized to the Brazilan for the inconvenience caused by USADA:

"Listen, they don't know about fighting the way the people who know about fighting know about fighting. You don't go in and test a guy at six in the morning when he's cutting weight. The result's going to be the same a few hours later, you wait. And I apologized to him on stage when he came out and that won't happen to another fighter again."

Catch Dana White's comments below (0:38):