Nick Diaz Suspension Reduced To 18 Months, $100,000 Fine By NSAC

It turns out that the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) didn’t really mean to ban controversial and popular bad boy Nick Diaz for five years and fine him $165,000 for his third marijuana failure after his unanimous decision loss to Anderson Silva in the headliner of last January’s UFC 183.

Following a massive fan and media backlash that insinuated the NSAC was taking out their anger at Diaz when he plead the Fifth Amendment during his hearing while his lawyer Lucas Middlebrook put together a convincing defense based on some inconsistencies in his test numbers, the commission decided to reduce Diaz’ ban from an unheard-of five years to 18 months and reduce his fine from the aforementioned $165,000 to $100,000.

It’s a welcome announcement for Diaz, the UFC, and his veritable army of fans, as most thought it a travesty that Diaz was effectively banned for the remainder of his career while other fighters were suspended for far less for testing positive for the much more dangerous steroids and performance-enhancers.

It was far from Diaz’ first offense, however, as he failed for marijuana following his gogoplata submission over Takanori Gomi at the Las Vegas-based Pride 33 card, and also failed for marijuana metabolites after his controversial split decision loss to Carlos Condit at 2012’s UFC 143.

Nevada Deputy Attorney General Christopher Eccles supposedly and repeatedly made it difficult for them to collect drug test samples from him, recanting a story when he was actually contacted by the welterweight fighter’s team in an effort to get him tested as clean before his UFC 183 fight. Diaz also allegedly submitted diluted samples in the two tests he passed at the lab Middlebrook insisted was much more accredited than the one the NSAC was basing the failure upon.

But it’s safe to say in an evolving climate where attitudes towards marijuana use are warming, they shouldn’t be held in the same light as steroid use, for which the exact opposite is taking place thanks to the UFC’s new and more stringent random drug testing program enacted at International Fight Week last July.

The news means Diaz could potentially fight this August, and that’s a welcome addition to an already stacked welterweight roster. Who should he fight next? Read our list of potential candidates here and stay tuned to LowKick MMA for all announcements about Diaz’ next fight.