NSAC suspends Nick Diaz five years, $165k fine

After a long and often contentious hearing, the Nevada State Athletic Commission today handed down its harshest punishment on a fighter to date, voting unanimously to suspend Nick Diaz for five years after a positive marijuana test in connection with his decision loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 183.

Diaz (26-10 MMA, 7-7 UFC), 32, was also fined 33 percent of the $500,000 “show” purse he received for his Jan. 31 headliner at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, which amounted to $165,000, and attorney’s fees and costs in connection with his hearing. It was his third suspension for marijuana.

Commissioners Pat Lundvall and Francisco Aguilar pointed to Diaz’s two previous NSAC suspensions for marijuana, his no-show for a pre-fight test in California, and a 2010 brawl in the now-defunct Strikeforce as aggravating circumstances and supported a lifetime ban. After commissioners Anthony Marnell and Raymond “Skip” Avansino expressed reservation with a lifetime ban, the commissioners agreed to a five-year term.

Diaz appeared at the hearing in person and repeatedly invoked the fifth amendment to avoid self-incrimination, prompting vocal protest from his attorney, Lucas Middlebrook, who accused the NSAC of violating the fighter’s due process and indicating future legal action against the commission.

Middlebrook attempted to discredit the commission’s findings on Diaz’s test results, pointing to a trio of tests performed on the fighter on the night of his fight.

Diaz, as previously reported, passed the first and last of the three tests, which were analyzed by the WADA-accredited Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory. He failed the second test, which was analyzed by Quest Diagnostics.

Middlebrook called a drug testing expert who said it was “medically implausible” that Diaz could register the levels of marijuana measured by the three different labs.

But the commission’s legal rep, Nevada Deputy Attorney General Eccles, argued the conflicting results didn’t invalidate each other and said an amended answer to the state’s complaint didn’t dispute the fighter was dishonest on his pre-fight medical paperwork, which asked whether he had used any drugs in the past two weeks.

Diaz was suspended in 2012 when he tested positive for marijuana following a decision loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 143 and in 2006 following a submission win over Takanori Gomi at PRIDE 33.

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