The Nevada State Athletic Commission handed down their rulings regarding the suspensions resulting from positive drug test for Joe Pearson, Kit Cope, and Nick Diaz.
Joe Pearson tested positive for Delta-9-THC after his loss to Urijah Faber in the WEC on January 20, 2007. Pearson was suspended 6 months and fined 20% of his fight purse ($800).
Kit Cope tested positive for Boldenone (the same anabolic steroid Stephan Bonnar tested positive for) after his loss to Rob McCullough in the WEC on January 20, 2007. Cope was suspended 9 months from the date of the fight and fined 33% of his fight purse ($1,167).
Nick Diaz is who we are were interested in. Diaz tested positive for Delta-9-THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) after his victory over Takanori Gomi in PrideFC on February 24, 2007. Diaz was suspended 6 months from the date of the fight and fined 20% of his fight purse ($3,000). The interesting thing about Diaz’s case is that the NSAC also overturned the result of the Diaz-Gomi fight and ruled it a no contest.
Now, I’m not at all familiar with the scale and testing procedures for marijuana but apparently any test with a result over 15 is considered positing but the NSAC generally requires at least a level of 50 before they “feel very comfortable that everyone that tests positive [in Nevada] is truly positive.” The kicker here is that Nick Diaz apparently tested positive with a level of 175.
Dr. Tony Almo of the NSAC said:
Mr. Diaz was 175. This creates a unique situation. I was there at this fight and believe that you were intoxicated and… that it made you numb to the pain. Did it help you win? I think it did.
Diaz responded:
I wasn’t under the influence when I was fighting. I don’t abuse drugs normally; it was a one-time thing. It was very embarrassing for me to test positive.
Now, you can take this several ways. 1) Nick Diaz was so high on marijuana that he truly didn’t feel pain on a normal level and was therefore able to fight “better” because of it; or 2) Nick Diaz was high on weed and he still beat the pants of Pride’s lightweight champion Takanori Gomi.
Personally, I’m going to look at it like the latter. Diaz, even when stoned, is one of the best MMA fighters in the game today. But come on Nick, no one really believes this was a “one-time” thing, so please don’t try to play it off in that way. That excuse just doesn’t fly for you, for Diego Sanchez, or any other fighter. MMA is hitting the mainstream now, and all fighters need to take the initiative and realize the results of their actions before they do them.
Of course, all three fighters will be required to test negative before the NSAC before they will be allowed to fight again in Nevada.
*** UPDATE ***
Here what little info I’ve been able to scrape up regarding tests for marijauna and the testing scale
Cutoff and Detection Post Dose
The initial screening cutoff level is 50 ng/ml. The GC/MS cutoff level is 15 ng/ml. The elimination half-life of marijuana ranges from 14-38 hours. At the initial cutoff of 50 ng/ml, the daily user will remain positive for perhaps 7 to 30 days after cessation. At the confirmation level of 15 ng/ml, the frequent user will be positive for perhaps as long as 15 weeks. Marijuana metabolites’ storage and slow release from lipid tissues is the reason for this long detection period.
Passive Inhalation
Urine levels of 5 ng/ml have been reported from passive inhalation. One recent survey indicated that one subject in a passive inhalation experiment achieved a level of 23 ng/ml. This is unusual, but points out the usefulness of higher cutoff levels such as 50 ng/ml. The higher 50 ng/ml level eliminates the possibility of passive inhalation, is a level of very high reliability, and indicates more recent use.
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Amber
eric
capt.ADK'er
Yael Grauer
itzFORT
Singh is King
Fizzlesticks
WTFH
Studog
YEA I DONT KNOW ABOUT THAT ONE ITS NOT FAIR DIEGO GOT 3 MOTNHS AND HE GETS SIX … MAKES NO F–KING SENSE
Damn Nick!
@Patrick,
Diego’s suspension was from Florida not Nevada.
I didnt know they overturned the decision, I personally dont think marijuana will enhance your performance, the numbing the pain thing.. really i dont think pain is a big factor for these guys, no amount of pain would make them quit anyways. They wont quit unless their knocked out or submitted..
Thats what i think personally, in terms of being a professional athlete and knowing its a banned substance which will give you the same disgrace as using steroids in the eyes of the comission. I say its ridiculous that these guys would endanger their career for some ganja.
GET YOUR FKN MIND RIGHT DIAZ!
@BV
Have you seen any of Nick’s interviews? I don’t think that he has his “mind right” when he’s not stoned.
Hey Doc,
Did all your THC data come out of your personal copy of Stephen Landau’s book?
Nick should know better, he got 6 months because this is his second time and the laws are different from state to state regarding suspensions, also it depends on who the atheletic director is, I know the state atheletic director of Arkansas personally, he is an MMA freak, and is a black belt in everything, and he wouldn’t have suspended Nick at all, probably because he would himself have to resign for the same activity. Nick needs to stop this crap, he has a huge future in MMA, could be a world champ eventually, but not if he carries this hoodlum crap with him, he needs to rise above it and realize he has a great opportunity that he is ******** up.
damn..u def did ur home work…does this prove nick fought high?…if so they better give him the belt right now…damn
the first time i got high and really high i started seeing midgets it was crazy so my hats off to nick
i’m high as f*ck right now…..oh sh*t did i say that out loud? oh well someone quick punch me in the face i wanna see if it hurts! someone needs to pass out joints to the NSAC and after they smoke em make them fight each other and we’ll see how they feel about it as an enhancement drug.
@Diik
That wasn’t midgets, that was Serra!
LOL U DUDES ARE FUNNY
If THC is the worst they find in their systems then we are doing OK. Not going to preach about drug rules/laws, even though we should.
All MMA fighters should appreciate the opportunity they are getting. Ask some of the fighters from 10, 15, 20 years back how much they earned fighting and how hard it was to be part of a sport they loved so much. This is the dawn of a new era in sports, do not waste it.
Oh yah, we pay $40 – $50 to see good fights, legit fights. Please do not screw it up for us.
MMA forever.
**** like this will prevent MMA from maintining it’s newly acquired mainstream status! It took MMA a very long time in order to establish itself where it is now, and to have a few asswipes with great fighting skills and tiny brains ruin it would truly be unfair.
WHATS NEXT FOR GEORGES ST. PIERRE
@Patrick
Nothing for awhile. He said he will take some time off…..
This is from his website:
“I started over my usual training on Monday so tomorrow, I’ll go train as I do everyday.
At night, I will be going to see the Ottawa Senators versus the Pittsburgh Pinguins hockey game in Ottawa.
GSP”
MAN THAT JUST SUCKS…. HOW BIG AND BLOWN UP HE WAS AND TO LOSE LIKE HE DID TO THAT PIP SQUEEK
HILLBILLY
so u dont want to talk about stealing my idea thats cool but what about betting on the icewomans fight come on now dont pull a gatties and ignore me
Its hard enough for me to like Diaz. I dont like disrespectful fighters. I think that Sanchez, Diaz, and any other known fighters need to be the examples. In my opinion a pure fighter who kicks the crap out of people is the best kind. I watch alot of these fights to see what can happen when a guy pushes his bodies limits to its ends. Weed wasnt in the plan for the diet and excersise layouts i have seen. But then again if studies are right, then it still is better for you than alcohol. and how many of these guys do you think drink?
yea but alcohol isnt an illegal narcotic substance.. the hate on weed bigtime, actually their trying to get people to quit smoking ciggs let alone herbz.
hi i’m Randy and i’m a pot head…..ah sh*t i did it again, wrong forum. sorry thats what happens when you smoke weed it makes you really um, um, um oh yeah dumb. but the one good thing about smoking weed is that it makes me fight like a wild man and i feel no pain what so ever. we should probably just kill the fighters who smoke weed because they are the root of all evil in sports today. one other thing how can they ban steroids….like come on how are the guys gonna bulk up’n sh*t? so lets not focus on small things like steroids and keep our minds on the real problem…..POTHEADS!
Hey Dr. J I notice you didnt post anything for the last pride event? strange, i recall Dennis saying something about it. I have some comments on this one for sure.
Maybe for the last time seeing stomps to the head and knees from the north south position, Yvel pulled off a nice win over shoji, nice fight oldschool style.
DAAAAM did you see what happened to Don Frye?? after the “in your face” staredown lol he ate like 50 unanswered shots to the head, on his feet before the ref jumped in.. he took the beating of his life that night man..
I didnt know Randleman hated UFC so much, too bad, i would have liked to see him come to UFC. Atleast we get to see him fight UFC guys, in 8 months when he gets cleared to fight. Trigg said Randleman stinks like coconuts.. he didnt seem too happy about that.. i thought it was pretty inapproprate too.. DONT PULL A KRAMER TRIGG!
Sakurabas coming back, talk about a great fighter! BUT personally i think hes past his prime and hes pretty much done. With 2 bad knees and his head rattled from being knocked out so many times i cant see him doing much. Kind of like when Royce came back to fight Hughes, its nice to see Royce, but not to see him get battered, i dont really want to see that happen to Sukuraba… again..
That guy who fought Aoki was explosive from a standing position to a flying knee, that guys dangerous! I cant believe Aoki pinched him with that arm bar, great compure on his part to survive the storm.
WOW Sokoudjou knocked out another one of my favorite fighters in Arona. I didnt even know he was with Team Quest! thats all i can say.. WOW! whats next for Sokoudjou??? Knock out Silva maybe?
Monson Fujita was a good fight too, but i think Fujita was pacing himself to go the distance because hes known to gas. Monson totally outclasses him on the ground tho, great job by monson.
@BV
Just one thing…..Fook Randleman! He needs to retire……sorry,.
New precedence set…………..
April 10, 2007
by Josh Gross (jos…@sherdog.com)
The Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday changed the result of Nick Diaz’s (Pictures) gogoplata victory over Takanori Gomi (Pictures) to a no-decision after it deemed that the use of marijuana aided in the Californian’s Feb. 24 win over the PRIDE champion, NSAC executive director Keith Kizer confirmed to Sherdog.com.