Paulo Coast Says Stomach Medicine Caused Withdrawal
Earlier this year it was reported that former UFC title contender Yoel Romero and Paulo Henrique Costa is in works for the April 27 fight card in Florida. That was the third attempt both middleweights were scheduled to throw down — past bookings at UFC 230 and UFC Brooklyn failed to come to fruition due to Romero injuries.
Unfortunately, this matchup scrapped again, but Romero speculated Costa’s forced withdrawal from UFC On ESPN 3 card was due to USADA violations. However “The Eraser’s” team quickly shut down those rumors but didn’t give any official reason of withdrawal.
Speaking with news outlet Combate, Costa details why he wasn’t allowed to fight at UFC On ESPN 3 fight card.
“I was called to fight Romero. I signed the contract; he hadn’t signed it,” Costa said (h/t MMAjunkie.com). “He’d gone to a reality show, and we were in this indecision of whether he’d be able to fight or not. When he came back from the reality show and was able to sign the contract at last – in the same week he was back, the New York Athletic State Commission asked me to make a statement about a medication I’d taken for my stomach. And then they said, ‘In order for you to answer this, you won’t be able to fight, unfortunately. You’re unfortunately going to be ineligible for this fight because you need to notify to us what it is that you took for your stomach.’
“It was a simple medicine, ‘Plasil’. It’s not doping. It has nothing to do with doping. You take it when you feel some type of stomach discomfort. So because of that – I didn’t understand it, either – they said that I couldn’t fight him, because I had to figure this out first.”
Later Romero also pulled out of the bout due to illness, and reportedly ‘Borrachinha’ was offered a fight against Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, who had stepped in initially for him. The time Costa was offered this bout he was walking around 225 pounds so sadly he wouldn’t be able to make weight to face “Jacare” on April 27.
“I wasn’t in camp, I wasn’t doing intense training,” Costa said. “Because I stopped training after knowing I was no longer fighting Yoel. I spent almost a month, basically resting, doing low, light maintenance, in low-intensity. They gave me an opportunity to fight ‘Jacare.’
“I accepted it but for May. But for April 27, it would have been impossible. I can’t lose [40 pounds] and train at high intensity with just 20 days.”
Paulo Costa didn’t set his sights on Romero, but willing to face him again if destiny allows however he’s ready to fight anyone and has a return date in mind.
“I’ll fight anyone,” Costa said. “Anyone who’s better ranked can be my next opponent. But I believe that, since ‘Jacare’ took the fight with [Jack] Hermansson and it will happen on the 27th, then Romero and I will be there to fight. I believe pneumonia is not an injury that requires weeks or months [to recover] from. I believe in a week, two, maybe he’ll be ready to get back to training. So we can fight.
“It could be in May, June. Whenever he’s ready, I can fight in May, in order to lose the weight. I believe if I fight Romero, whomever wins will have their hand at the title shot.”
‘Borrachinha’ wasn’t happy with Romero’s initial remarks about him regarding PEDs.
“It’s bad,” He said. “Even though it was a false rumor, it creates that ‘smoke,’ like people say. Until people realize it’s not like that at all, maybe it gives a bad image, you get a bad image.
“But there’s nothing to say. Simply none of that happened. I never used any of these artifices, such as doping or anything like that. And USADA is there to prove that. I will hit him with more gusto. I will, for sure. Each strike will have some extra pleasure.”
Who should Costa fight next?
