There’s nothing more terrifying than a public body out for blood and when
the Nevada State Athletic Commission basically did a hit job on Nick Diaz’s
career for the heinous crime of smoking pot and showing little to no remorse
about it, MMA fighters and fans got a whiff of how arbitrary sports law really
is.
Nick Diaz losing his career for smoking pot is bad enough but Diaz getting
five years for weed when his last opponent (Anderson Silva no less) popped
positive for steroids and only got one year when he should got three really
shows how bad NSAC suck at sticking to their own rules. Diaz’s ban is so egregious
that he will be banned longer than first and second time PED users, those who
submit fake tests, wife batterers and animal abusers.
Diaz has paid a hefty price not for smoking weed but getting under the skin
of NSAC as he tested positive for weed use three times and the commission,
taking Diaz’s customary lack of remorse for breaking their rules to heart,
sought to effectively end his career which could have been even worse if the
other commissioners members followed commissioner Pat Lundvall’s suggestion to
ban him for life.
However one can’t really be surprised as the NSAC v Diaz debacle is another
example of why sports fans across the board hate the organizations that
regulate and/or run their sport and the people who run them from the NFL’s Roger
Goddell to FIFA’s Sepp Blatter as their power and the rules they impose on
sports appear to be arbitrary and grossly unjust. Nick Diaz will likely see his
5 year ban whittled down to maybe 2 or 3 years after a lengthy and costly legal
battle or even overturned completely due to NSAC’s decision drawing the wrath
of the entire MMA community.
The NSAC were clearly out to get Diaz as they ignored two clean tests
carried out to WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) certified procedures and chose
to bury Diaz based on a positive test not carried out under WADA’s standards. It’s
bad enough that the NSAC was banned for years but the reason is why Diaz being
tested for and punished for using cannabis is the real concern at heart as
there’s no advantage to be gained over a clean opponent when smoking marijuana
at least in comparison to anabolic steroids which promotes faster recovery
times, greater muscle mass and endurance.
With this in mind, it’s hard to fathom why fighters could spend up to five years
or even the rest of their lives banned from the sport they chose because state athletic
commissions and/or fight promotions have seriously prudish attitude to
recreational drugs which puts them on the wrong side of the growing trend in
the US of a more relaxed attitude toward drugs, cannabis especially.
Nothing hurt fans and brought the sport in disrepute than when Anderson
Silva, arguably the greatest MMA fighter ever, tested positive for steroids leaving
the whole of MMA in a state of depression but no one battled an eyelid when Nick
Diaz, a real fan favorite, tested positive for marijuana not because Anderson
Silva has a greater standing in the sport (although it was part of it) but nobody
cared except the UFC and NSAC.
In sum, Nick Diaz may have paid the price for the NSAC taking his defiance
personally but the real question is why it was possible he could get banned in
the first place.
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