Nick Diaz has reached a settlement with the Nevada Athletic Commission, and they have approved that settlement. They just haven’t officially announced the terms.
During the commission meeting in Las Vegas on Tuesday, the NAC sped through Diaz’s part of the agenda, bringing up the proposed settlement and approving the terms contained without revealing their contents. There was no further conversation beside it being put to vote and approved.
However, according to several published reports citing sources close to Diaz, his five year suspension has been reduced to 18 months dating back to his fight with Anderson Silva at UFC 183 on January 31, 2015, and a $100,000 fine. That makes Diaz eligible to fight as soon as August 1 of this year.
Diaz’s initial suspension came off a murky drug test result for marijuana, one which was flanked by two clean tests just hours before and after. It was a third violation, and led the commission to go heavy after him, which then led to a significant backlash from fans, fighters, pundits, and more. Settlement talks then began in the fall, and now it’s official.
Penick’s Analysis: Though the fine and suspension are still questionable outright due to the fact that the one failed test was such a massive outlier, with it physically impossible for him to have tested clean just hours before and after, it’s good that the five years got cut down. Diaz will likely fight in August, should he decide he wants to, of course, and all can move forward.
[Nick Diaz art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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