Nick Diaz’s five-year suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission will be up for reconsideration next week, as a proposed settlement is on the agenda for their Jan. 12 commission meeting.
Diaz was suspended five years due to a failed marijuana test out of his loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 183. However, Diaz’s team made more than a compelling case for the “failed” test to be thrown out given the presence of two clean tests from hours before and after the supposed failure. Unfortunately, the commission refused to accept the arguments or the possibility of an error, and further punished Diaz over a refusal to answer their questions.
The commission’s actions – and the insane five-year term for a non-performance enhancing substance – led to public outcry, including a White House petition that wound up garnering a response.
Though terms of the proposed settlement won’t be officially revealed until the meeting, it’s still believed to be in the realm of 18 months dating back to the date of the event, Jan. 31. That would clear Diaz to fight again by August.
Penick’s Analysis: It’s still a bit ridiculous that Diaz’s protestations were ignored outright, but the fact that they’ll reach a settlement here to get him back to action is a good thing. A summer return leaves any number of options available for a return fight, so we’ll see in the next several months what they have in mind.
[Nick Diaz art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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