UFC
UFC 143: Nick Diaz tests positive for marijuana out of Carlos Condit fight, faces disciplinary action from NSAC
Feb 9, 2012 - 7:30:31 PM UFC 143: Nick Diaz tests positive for marijuana out of Carlos Condit fight, faces disciplinary action from NSAC

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

For the second time in his MMA career, Nick Diaz has tested positive for marijuana out of a fight in the state of Nevada. Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer revealed on Thursday that Diaz failed his drug test for the fight against Carlos Condit last weekend at UFC 143, testing positive for marijuana metabolites.

A complaint for disciplinary action has been filed against Diaz, and his ultimate punishment will be handed out in the coming weeks.

There had been talk this week that a Condit-Diaz rematch would happen, but on Wednesday it was reported that the fight was off before getting signed. The fight was said to be off because something came up in Diaz's camp that rendered him "unable to compete." Now we know why.

Had Diaz defeated Condit on Saturday night, the bout would have been overturned to a no contest. The same thing happened to him back in February of 2007, when he submitted Takanori Gomi by gogoplata at Pride 33 in Las Vegas, only to test positive for marijuana in his system. That led to a six month suspension at the time. This second test could lead to a stiffer penalty, though the exact punishment for this infraction has not yet been determined.

Diaz also ran into an issue with the California State Athletic Commission in the summer of 2009. He was scheduled to take on Jay Hieron on the card that would end up being headlined by Gina Carano vs. Cris "Cyborg", but when he was asked to take a random drug test he did not show up, and was unable to get licensed for the event. He did not show up because he knew he would test positive for marijuana, and he has stated many times that it's something he would not be giving up.

After the loss on Saturday, Diaz stated that he would be retiring from MMA. A rematch with Condit would have pulled him out of that quickly, but if this positive test results in a lengthy suspension, retirement may possibly be in the cards for him.

Penick's Analysis: It's disappointing on a number of levels that we're in this spot. It's not necessarily surprising, because Diaz has made it no secret that he smokes and would continue to smoke pot, but for one of the biggest fights of his career it's still immensely disappointing that he couldn't control himself on this leading up to the fight. Now, marijuana is in no way a performance enhancing substance, even though the commission rules essentially consider it so, but it is a substance that is banned for competition, and Diaz knows this first hand because he was suspended for it before. Had he defeated Condit, we still wouldn't be getting the Diaz-GSP fight because of this, and it wouldn't have counted as a win at all anyway.

It's just disappointing that he hasn't seemed to learn from past mistakes, and now that he's out a significant amount of time anyway, the chance of him calling it quits for real could be higher. My guess is we'll see him come back after his suspension is up, because he'll have a desire to compete, but who knows if the UFC will want to risk putting him in a truly high profile spot. I mean, can you imagine if he had fought St-Pierre, captured the title, and then tested positive? He'd have to be stripped of the belt and the UFC would be in a really bad spot. As it stands, it's just on him right now, and maybe this time he'll learn from the consequences handed down.

[Nick Diaz art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]