Following a failed drug test after UFC 143 on February 4th, Nick Diaz has been temporarily suspended by Nevada Athletic Commission. The suspension was issued on Wednesday, and will be in place until a follow-up meeting takes place, which is where the long-term future of Diaz will be decided. That meeting is expected to take place in April.
The commission will look over all information related to Diaz’s drug test for UFC 143, along with a failed drug test from February 2007, after Diaz’s fight with Takanori Gomi at Pride 33, which also took place in Nevada. Diaz was suspended for six months following the failed drug test, and his submission victory over Gomi was overturned and ruled a no contest.
Because of his previous suspension by the same commission, it is likely that a second suspension will be more severe. A one year suspension is expected, along with possibly facing a fine. The commission requested information concerning Diaz’s full fight purse from UFC 143, in which he earned $200,000 for the fight, per his contract. Additional bonuses that Diaz received will also be looked at by the commission.
Since Diaz is licensed for medical marijuana in the state of California, the commission will also look over the defense by Diaz that he is legally allowed to use the Nevada prohibited drug.
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mma currently is losing alot of stars all of a sudden, bj penn, brock lesnar, nick diaz, wanderlai silva, gsp is out injured, anderson silva isn’t fighting as much, rampage seems on the verge of retiring… this is a disaster for the ufc. and ufc also wants fights to happen every 2-3 weeks now, when the main stars retire, leave or are injured, then ufc is in big trouble. nick diaz will most likely get 6 months to a year suspension.
Who are all these young guys with talent coming in?
Dana said something very interesting. He was asked if he thought Nick had a good case since he is medically cleared to smoke marijuana.
“It doesn’t matter if a doctor walks up to us and says he thinks it’s ok for Nick to smoke weed. It could be ok with the doctor, with a therapist, with his camp but that doesn’t matter because it’s not ok here. It’s not ok with the athletic commission, it’s against the rules so it really doesn’t matter what the doctor says or thinks”.
The commission might take that into consideration but I just thought dana had a real solid point. If it’s against the rules, it doesn’t matter who says it’s ok. It almost becomes a situation where if he did need to do it for medical reasons and if he was cleard by a doctor he and his people should have brought it to the commission and ufc’s attention long before the fight happened so they could aniticipate a failed drug test.
It’s a real shame. Nick Diaz is a hype machine and is marketing gold. His fans are super hardcore loyal and the bottom line is that people want to see him fight. However, the UFC has always done well without Nick Diaz and I don’t think that will change especially with such a stacked WW division.
- “the UFC has always done well without Nick Diaz and I don’t think that will change especially with such a stacked WW division.”
Well, that’s because the UFC always had huge stars/draws such as Matt Hughes (in his time), BJ Penn (when at WW), and GSP to work with in terms of building PPV Main Events from their Welterweight division. With Penn & Hughes both out of the game and St. Pierre being out of action for almost a year now (and not set to return any time remotely soon), tell me, who currently at WW could successfully Main Event a UFC PPV with their name/popularity? Who, Carlos Condit?, please…definitely not after his last ‘performance’ & the huge backlash that has ensued, and especially not when there’s no other truly Marquee opponents available for him right now (with Diaz now being out).
Sure, the WW division isn’t hurting in terms of making some interesting fights, but it sure as h*ll is lacking a Big Time Star/PPV draw at the present time, which most definitely hurts the UFC in some respect (especially with the number of events now being scheduled).
@learntoread
That’s a good point. BJ and Hughes are bigger names than a lot of the ww’s and have been bigger draws. But that was in the past. The big void to fill is GSP. That’s it. But he’s not really “gone”. He’s injured and will make a return this year even if it’s at the end of the year and when that happen’s it will probably be the highest grossing ppv in history. GSP is after all the PPV king. Another thing to consider is that there in fact is a healthy roster of fighters that can be considered “stars” in the WW division. Jake Ellenberger has made quite a name for himself not just in the fighting part of MMA but fans love this guy. I’ve actually seen a lot of fan support for the jake vs condit rematch instead of the gsp vscondit fight. Jake is definitely a name now and with fighters like Hendricks and Rory Macdonald coming up, the WW division is only getting better. He11 i can’t remember such a stacked ww division ever. Nick Diaz sure added a whole lot to the WW division but not enough to cripple the division with his absence. Come on dude.
GSP,Condit,Ellenbgerger,Shields,Hendricks,alvez,Kampann,Diego,Kos,,Fitch,Story,Sexyama,Rory Macdonald, Wonder Boy Thompson, the return of the outlaw dan hardy… Dude with all these veterana and up and comers i’m sure the ww division will continue to thrive with or without Nick Diaz.
None of the names you mentioned, (outside of GSP who is simply NOT a factor in terms of headlining for many months to come unfortunately), are anywhere near headlining a PPV Main Event on their own…just a fact man.
As much as you want to tout Jake Ellenberger, (and sure, he’s an up and coming WW, no doubt), he’s no where near PPV headline status at this point in time. That’s the point. There is no one active on the roster right now who can.
@learntoread
If jake fought condit, it would be a good seller. Trust me.
Alves vs Kampann is headlining in just a few weeks so why can’t bigger names then them like Ellenberger, Condit or even kos and hendricks also headline a card? It doesn’t have to be PPV, it can be a FX, Fuel, UFN. I mean i get your point. I even said it myself. Diaz is a big draw. Diaz is very marketable. But his absence will not cripple the ww division whatsoever. I doubt that any of us will even notice a change. So i don’t understand where you are taking your argument.
My argument is simple. The WW will move on and will continue to be just as exciting, if not more exciting without diaz. And with less drama.
When was the last time GSP was NOT the topic of discussion in the ww division? That alone speaks to how stacked and interesting the current UFC ww division is. The only intriguing matchup for diaz , hypothetically speakig would be if he fought Diego. He’s not THAT big of a deal dude.
Not sure why you’d bring up minor UFC events such as Fuel or FX shows…of course numerous WW’s could headline those, lol. I was speaking strictly on the major PPV events (you know, the ones where Zuffa make their bread & butter).
Plus I never insinuated Diaz’s absence would “cripple the ww division”. I was simply stating that the UFC’s WW division currently has no active PPV headliner, which is true (unfortunately)…and that situation doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
IMO they should go by how much was in his system because of the fact that it is legal for him to do so in Cali and it stays in ur system for a while but i figure it’s against the rules for its illegality not for performance enhancing reasons
Actually, it’s illegal in sports for both PED/legal reasons. They also do test the levels, it’s not a pass/fail test. You must test over a certain amount for it to be considered a positive test.
Whether he has doctor ok or not, the rules were definitely in his contract, along with the 200k purse plus ppv bonus. He’s def out a year, and will prob lose a chunk of cash.
With condit beating the aforementioned popular diaz, and many people watching, that added a huge list to the many that already were big fans of condit. Ww class is very stacked with some great talent in juggernaut, Hendricks, and plenty of big draws in kos, shields, Diego, etc.
After Ellenberger beat Diego, who has a huge following, many people now have him on the radar. And since Hendricks is now fighting kos, its clear to me the ufc is planning condit/Ellenberger, with Gsp getting winner. I’d say the ww class is as healthy as ever, and will do fine until diaz hopefully comes back next year.
Condit just did headline, and Ellenberger beat 2 headliners in Diego and shields on national television and ppv. So we won’t have gsp until Oct. Whatever. Ufc isn’t pouting and shouldn’t be, as they’re gonna kill it this year and for many more to come.
And with diaz, all he had to do was not smoke week for 30 days (and actually when you sweat everyday you can get it out in 7 days) and then not jeopardize his career and hundreds of thousands of dollars. He has no room to complain and my guess is they cut him no slack. But hey if marquardt can come back, anyone can!! Lol
The only reason Condit headlined a PPV event was as a replacement. Carlos was always the “Plan B” if (for whatever reason) either GSP or Diaz couldn’t fight, that was the deal for both UFC 137 and 143…he was put into position as “Plan B” in case of any Main Event issues. Just a fact man.
Ellenberger has never headlined a PPV event. Moot point. No one was talking about any FX or Fuel minor events here.
This guy is an idiot! Dana should just get rid of Nick! Nick thinks that the world owes him something. Nick needs to grow up and Ceasar Gracie should be more of a mentor and not a yes man and apologetic for Nick Diaz.
Good riddance.
Those young and upcoming fighters would be umm… Macdonald, Ellenberger, Hendricks, Story, wonder boy, you could even throw condit in there who is 26. Yeah those up and comers. Or you could just watch.
Every top head line fighter was once a guy who had never head lined before. Now condit has, and Ellenberger did fine on tv. Things change, the sport evolves. No spilled milk to even complain about. The ufc will be fine, and one day we might look back and laugh at the lack of depth we had before this class. You never know.
i don’t agree with rogan – that thc is performance enhancing. he’s right – in the sense that he means it- enlightening creativity.. perhaps but so is fitch’s vegan diet or whatever. – but that’s not the spirit of the law which is supposedly being upheld… diaz is one of the best fighters, doesn’t nuthug management, is not roided up, always brings it. this is a shame – it’s not right. not anymore than a speeding ticket for someone driving 1 mph over the limit on a barren highway- technically illegal but morally a bad conviction.
Nick Diaz is the BEST fighter in the UFC. No Nick Diaz= none of my $ for the PPV. He is the only exciting fighter in the UFC. He chased Condit for 5 rounds and his smoking pot is a non issue. Grow up Dana White. The fans love Nick Diaz.
Dana White has nothing to do with the suspension. As the headline should have tipped you off.