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Wanderlei Silva's lawyer argues that NAC doesn't have the authority to order drug tests to unlicensed fighters
Aug 21, 2014 - 5:20:43 PM
Wanderlei Silva's lawyer argues that NAC doesn't have the authority to order drug tests to unlicensed fighters
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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Wanderlei Silva's lawyer this week is arguing that the Nevada Athletic Commission doesn't have jurisdiction over the UFC competitor regarding their attempt to drug test him in May.

Silva's attorney, Ross Goodman, filed a motion with Nevada's Deputy Attorney General Christopher Eccles on Wednesday, arguing that the commission had "no authority" to order a random drug test for Silva while he was unlicensed, and thus has no jurisdiction to administer any punishment for Silva skipping out on the test.

"The NSAC tacitly recognizes their lack of jurisdiction to discipline Mr. Silva by removing any reference to licensee under the Jurisdiction section of the Complaint 1-4," Goodman argued in the motion (via MMAFighting.com). "A review of other Complaints for Disciplinary Action consistently relies on the unarmed combatants' status as a 'licensee' as the jurisdictional basis for the NSAC's authority to seek discipline. Here, the NSAC cannot cure this jurisdictional defect by eliminating the phrase 'licensee' and simply refer to Mr. Silva as an 'unarmed combatant."

"Mr. Silva is not an unarmed combatant because he did not compete in UFC 175. ... The NSAC has never been vested with the authority to direct or order non-licensed persons to submit to a chemical test. Consequently, the NSAC lacks jurisdiction to seek disciplinary action against Mr. Silva, and any attempt to do so, clearly exceeds the NSAC's limited statutory jurisdiction."

The Commission will address the issue at a later commission meeting after deciding to table the discussion at Thursday's meeting in Las Vegas.

Penick's Analysis: This is an interesting and potentially damaging development for the Nevada Athletic Commission. Now, they're going to argue back (and correctly), that Silva intended to fight at UFC 175 at the time they attempted to administer the drug test. Indeed, his opponent, Chael Sonnen, had already gone through the licensing procedure for the event, while Silva was supposed to. Arguing after the fact that because he didn't compete on the card he's not under their jurisdiction is ridiculous, as the only reason he didn't compete on that card is because he skipped out on the drug test in the first place. If the commission is found to not have jurisdiction in this situation, it kills their authority for out of competition drug testing, because then fighters in the future simply won't apply for a license until as close to a fight as possible, leaving them open to using whatever they'd like in training camp. I doubt the commission's simply going to throw their hands in the air here and say Silva's camp is right, but this does present an interesting dilemma to the proceedings.

[Wanderlei Silva art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]


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