UFC Welterweight Nick Diaz gets 5-year Ban for Marijuana Offense

Posted by Sagar Satapathy on September 15, 2015.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has suspended UFC Welterweight Nick Diaz for five years after he was found guilty of third marijuana-related offense of his career. Although attempts were made to impose a life ban on Nick, 32, they finally agreed on a five-year ban. Earlier, Nick Diaz had appeared before the Commission in person, but refused to answer to any of its queries.

The NSAC fined Diaz $165,000 apart from the suspension. Nick Diaz hit back, saying he would challenge the suspension. He condemned the officials at NSAC in strong words and vowed to fight back. He asked them to stay away from this. Lucas Middlebrook, Diaz's lead attorney, termed the ban as "completely arbitrary and capricious decision".

"This was a kangaroo court, and you heard the commission: Their decision wasn't based on fact. It wasn't based on evidence," he added. He alleged that the Commissioners who pronounced the verdict, banned Diaz just because he failed to respect him.

Diaz fights out of Stockton, California. He was tested positive for marijuana metabolites following a decision loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 183 on January 31. While Diaz passed two drug tests on fight night but failed a third. The failed test, which was administered between the two clean tests, was analyzed by Quest Diagnostics.

Diaz's attorneys argued that Quest results were "scientifically unreliable". They termed the SMRTL results, which were obtained using WADA's higher standard of protocols, as "authentic". Quest results showed Diaz's marijuana metabolites level at nearly five times the permissible limit. However, the SMRTL tests showed they were well below that permissible threshold.

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