Just a few minutes ago at the Nevada Athletic Commission’s monthly meeting (liveblog here), the second item on the agenda was a settlement with Nick Diaz. Diaz was, of course, suspended for five years over a positive test for marijuana metabolites after his fight with Anderson Silva. Because he had more than one past infraction, the commissioners treated him harshly, especially in light of him testing negative both earlier and later that night. At today’s meeting, the settlement was breezed past, and the terms were not disclosed, with MMA Junkie’s John Morgan tweeting that it had to be redacted before it could be released publicly:
The settlement apparently needs to be redacted before it can be distributed. Guess we can ask during public comment, perhaps?
— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) January 12, 2016
As the meeting was ending, the terms of the settlement began to leak, first via ESPN’s Brett Okamoto and then confirmed by MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, who added a few more details. The new terms of the suspension are:
- Diaz is suspended for 18 months effective the date of the Silva fight, so he can fight starting August 1st. This means that he’ll miss UFC 200.
- The fine is $100,000.
- According to Helwani, it seems like the issue was that the commission couldn’t get Diaz on the positive test due to the conflicting evidence, but they could cite him for lying on his pre-fight questionnaire.
- According to Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter, Diaz will have to provide a clean urine sample to be licensed.
Bob Bennett, the executive director of the commission, declined comment to Botter, who is tweeting additional details of the settlement as he goes through the paperwork:
Here we go. Got a copy of the settlement agreement and all the accompanying paperwork. pic.twitter.com/GP6Vf9vzzb
— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) January 12, 2016
Diaz admits he wrongly used the fifth amendment during hearing.
— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) January 12, 2016
Diaz will have to provide three clean urine tests in the month leading to his next fight in Nevada
— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) January 12, 2016
