UFC
Wanderlei Silva to appeal jurisdiction of Nevada Athletic Commission to Nevada Supreme Court
May 21, 2015 - 11:15:27 AM Wanderlei Silva to appeal jurisdiction of Nevada Athletic Commission to Nevada Supreme Court

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

A Nevada district court judge struck down the punishment given to Wanderlei Silva by the Nevada Athletic Commission this week, but still maintained that the commission had jurisdiction to test him despite him not being licensed.

According to a report from Wednesday's UFC Tonight program, Silva will be appealing that ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court via his attorney Ross Goodman.

"We are very confident in our position that the NSAC [sic] cannot discipline a person not licensed before them," Goodman said (via MMAFighting.com). "While we are pleased that the Judge found the NSAC [sic] violated Mr. Silva's rights by imposing an arbitrary sanction of a life time ban, the Court unfortunately did not focus or even address the specific statutory provisions expressly providing that licensure is a pre-requisite before the NSAC [sic] has jurisdiction to discipline someone."

Penick's Analysis: The issue with the district court ruling on jurisdiction is that it wasn't quite specific enough. There's a difference between the commission trying to test someone who wasn't licensed and wasn't scheduled for a fight, and trying to test someone who was clearly targeted for an event in their jurisdiction and just hadn't gotten a license. The judge noted that Silva appeared at a media event for a targeted fight with Chael Sonnen the day before the commission sent someone to administer the drug test that he fled from. The Supreme Court may wind up clarifying things to say the commission can test a competitor with a clearly established and scheduled fight, even if they haven't yet gotten their license.

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