UFC
NSAC executive director says Nick Diaz lied on pre-UFC 143 questionnaire, tried to beat drug test
Sep 28, 2012 - 11:30:36 PM NSAC executive director says Nick Diaz lied on pre-UFC 143 questionnaire, tried to beat drug test

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer has been outspoken against Nick Diaz throughout the UFC welterweights entire ordeal with the commission, and in addressing another suspended individual this week, he commented further on Diaz.

Kizer was in a conversation with boxing website BoxingScene.com, and in the conversation regarding suspensions, Diaz came up. Kizer had some harsh words for Diaz, who is fighting his year-long suspension and $80,000 fine in a Las Vegas court.

"It was here, twice for the same drug, marijuana," Kizer said of Diaz's marijuana failures. "But Nick did some things that came out in the hearing. Before the hearing, he came out and said 'yeah, well I smoked seven days before.' Wait a minute, are you saying that you lied on our pre-fight questionnaire? We asked him if he took anything in the last fifteen days. He basically admitted that he did, so we added basically the equivalent of perjury and that was part of the findings against him. So it wasn't only for testing positive for the marijuana, it was also for lying about it on the form."

"The second thing with Nick is that after the fight he drank like two dozen bottles of water, which we later found out from both from his expert, as well as our own, the effect of that could very well have been the intent to lower the level of marijuana in his system to try to get it below the cutoff. It didn't quite work. He was still above the cutoff but the level wasn't very high."

Penick's Analysis: Kizer's not being entirely accurate with these statements, and indeed the water comment has already drawn fire from Diaz's trainer Cesar Gracie on Twitter. As far as water is concerned, considering he may have been dehydrated from a five round fight, drinking water would help produce a urine sample. And he wouldn't have downed "two dozen" bottles of water. And on the comments about the pre-fight questionnaire, Diaz's team has argued from the outset that he didn't consider it a "prescription medication" at the time, and that the questionnaire didn't contain any questions about medical marijuana. Therefore, to continue to say he blatantly lied is just not accurate. Additionally, the NSAC's vehement negativity towards Diaz over marijuana just comes off as completely petty and ridiculous considering their complicity in the rise of legalized testosterone use in the sport.

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