The Nevada State Athletic Commission today voted to formalize a temporary suspension issued to Nick Diaz in the wake of his positive drug test for marijuana.
A formal disciplinary hearing is now expected at a date to be determined.
Now-UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit outpointed Diaz at UFC 143 on Feb. 4 in Las Vegas. Diaz's post-fight drug test then revealed the presence of marijuana metabolites.
In the wake of that finding, NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer filed a complaint with the Nevada Attorney General's Office asking to temporarily suspend Diaz's fight license pending a formal hearing. Today's meeting approved that request.
NSAC commissioners requested that Diaz's full license application and purse information be made available during the formal hearing. A representative for the attorney general's office also noted that the issue of medical marijuana was likely to be brought up since Diaz holds a license for medical cannabis in his home state of California.
"I also have some information, as far as from a legal research perspective, to bring on that," NSAC commissioner Pat Lundvall said of the possible issue.
Diaz broke Rule 467.850 of the commission's administrative code, which bars the use of banned substances, including performance-enhancing drugs and drugs of abuse such as marijuana. Diaz also failed a post-fight drug test following PRIDE 33 in 2007 due to marijuana, and the NSAC fined him 20 percent of his purse and suspended him six months.
Among the possible punishments Diaz faces, Kizer said the commission could levy fines or suspend him, as well as revoke or place conditions on the license.
"In the past, the norm for a positive test for marijuana is six months, but we have had two repeat offenders, and they both got a 12-month suspension," Kizer previously told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "But that doesn't necessarily mean that's what will happen here."
Source: NSAC temporarily suspends UFC's Nick Diaz, disciplinary hearing upcoming