One of the best competitors is our sport has been pulled from a scheduled title fight due to his use of a prescription drug. That’s right, Nick Diaz, who basically ducked the California State Athletic Commission’s preliminary drug screening to avoid testing positive for marijuana, will not be able to fight or earn a living. This distresses me, and despite the majority of my fellow journalists claiming that “rules are rules” something should be done about this.
Really, what is the argument against an athlete using cannabis in preparation for a fight in California? In 2007 Diaz was stripped of his career defining win over Takanori Gomi, because the Nevada State Athletic Commission ruled that the drug gave him an unfair advantage. In their estimation Diaz was so high it increased his pain threshold and therefore enhanced his performance. The NSAC’s reasoning is sound, albeit a tad hypocritical considering there are several NSAC busted roiders with enhanced W’s blotting their career records.
