UFC's Michael Chiesa, Rose Namajunas: 'Take marijuana off the banned list'

LAS VEGAS – Count Michael Chiesa and Rose Namajunas among the many backers for continued reform in the war against marijuana.

Marijuana’s acceptance is constantly growing with more and more states legalizing its usage in one form or another.

But in the MMA world, it remains a sticky topic. Chiesa has a solution, though, especially on the heels of Nick Diaz’s recent five-year suspension for failing a test for pot for a third time in Nevada.

“Take marijuana off the banned list,” Chiesa said on Friday at a Q&A session with fans ahead of the weigh-ins for tonight’s UFC 195, which takes place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. “I know a lot of people who actually use marijuana for medical purposes. I know fighters that have legitimate issues – not a lot of people want to put medicines in their body that are built in a science laboratory, but there’s a plant out there that grows naturally that can help guys with (attention deficit disorder) and certain other things.”

Chiesa was at the Q&A with fellow recent UFC Fight Night 80 winner Rose Namajunas, who shared Chiesa’s hope marijuana will one day be removed from MMA’s banned substances list. He said compared to the legality of elevated testosterone limits, the fact marijuana remains something that can get Diaz suspended for five years doesn’t jibe with him.

“You can have a 6-to-1 (testosterone-to-epitestosterone) ratio in Nevada – which is pretty tough to do naturally,” Chiesa said. “But you can’t smoke pot. It’s medicine. Times have changed. You can drink before a fight. You can get drunk, but you can’t have pot in your system? That doesn’t make sense to me.”

Check out Chiesa and Namajunas at Friday’s Q&A in the video above.

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