Bill Douglas explains Nick Diaz situation
by who me on Aug 11, 2009 8:49 PM EDT
Email
PrintCalifornia State Athletic Commission Assistant Executive officer Bill Douglas talked with 5oz of Pain about the situation with Nick Diaz. Apparently they repeatedly tried to set this test up but had Diaz no show where he was supposed to be to take the test. It's a very interesting read about how the situation went down from CSAC's viewpoint. It really sounds like they got the run around from Diaz camp on this one. They also seemed to have problems getting information about what was going on from Strikeforce too.
...
so I call the promoter and tell him we have a huge problem. I told him that I was out of options and didn’t know what to do. At this point, without his license, we can’t approve him to fight Jay Hieron. So this is fairly late in the evening on Friday night, about 9 or 10 pm on Friday night. I was on the phone at all hours dealing with this on Friday night, and the promoter said , “How about this as an option? How about we make sure that Nick is in Los Angeles on Monday. That way at least he’s there and we can drive him over to the lab”. I said, ‘You know what. In interest in fairness to Nick, interest of fairness to you and all of the fans that have wanted to see this fight; let’s do that. I’m all for second chances, let’s do whatever we can to get this man licensed. This is the only possible way we could get the test results on Friday. I even went as far as to say that I wouldn’t give a cut off time for the test results. I will take the test results up until seconds before Nick Diaz has to get on the scale. Seriously, I want to get this man licensed. The promoter said, “Excellent, thanks for this opportunity. We appreciate it. He’ll be there.”, and that was the last time we’ve heard from anybody.
...
“I attempted to contact the promoters of the event on Saturday night as far as what needed to be done, and again at midnight. The inspector has also made attempts to contact them on Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and again this morning, and neither one of us has heard anything from either the promoter or the Diaz camp. I’m sitting here thinking that we’ve done everything we can to try to get ahold of them and if we can’t get a simple phone call back, or some kind of fax, or an email, just one line, something; If they can’t meet us halfway on that, then it’s doomed.”
As far as Cesar Gracie's comments about his "deal" with Armando Garcia, Douglas addressed that too:
“Well they wanted a clarification on a legal opinion about medicinal marijuana in California because of the deal that was allegedly made between Nick Diaz and Armando Garcia. And I’m sitting here thinking, well Armando hasn’t been here since November. Is that really the policies of a person that we want to emulate at this point in time. So lets disregard that but Cesar asked for a legal opinion and at that point I’m obligated to give it to him. I went back to the department’s legal team, and what they clarified was that the passionate use act in California will protect people from criminal prosecution for the use of medicinal marijuana, but it does not protect them from administrative action against a license. So there is no criminal actions here against Mr. Diaz, it’s a licensing action that still falls in line with our rule 303 prohibiting use of a banned substance, and at this time in regards to athletic competition marijuana is still considered banned. So that’s what we came back to Cesar with.
There is a shot at Armando Garcia in there but what it comes down to is that Diaz camp was informed beforehand what needed to happen and why in order to get Diaz licensed. They agreed to it last week and then no showed to do the test (multiple times).
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.
32 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Whatever the penalty would have been for him testing positive for marijuana…. They should take that time frame and not let him get a license until after that date. Diaz’s manager admitted that his fighter had a banned substance in his system. I don’t see how it should go down any other way.
Diaz camp knew last week that he wasn’t going to take this test, instead of giving everyone the run around (including Strikeforce) they should of just dropped out of the fight then. Now they have peeved off CSAC (again) and Strikeforce because of this not to mention made sure that he will be constantly tested from here on out every time he gets close to anything involving the sport. Nick just isn’t very smart about how he handles these things. You don’t see this kind of stuff constantly happening to his brother (or any other fighter that smokes)like it does to Nick.
Still CSAC can’t penalize him for missing the test even if Cesar Gracie flat out admits he can’t pass the test. All they can do is not give him his license right now. CSAC has to have test results in order to do anything.
I think they can prevent him from reapplying for a license for a period of time.
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
They can do that if he fails the test (which is what happened to Barnett, there was no punishment for his failed test but he can’t reapply for one year because of it). I don’t think they can do anything just because Diaz didn’t show up. The issue here wasn’t that he had to take the test now or else it’s that he had to take it now or license wouldn’t be approved in time for this event (very similar to what happened last year to EliteXC). They have to actually have a failed test in hand to say that he is using(even though they have admitted it to the press).
THey don’t necessarily need that to deny him a license though.
I’m sure they could come up with a variety of reasons to decline him a license if they felt so inclined.
Well, it was probably better for Nick to no-show the test than test positive. Sucks that he screwed over Strikeforce in the process, though.
He should of just been honest with Strikeforce at least last week when he knew he just wasn’t going to take the test. Apparently Coker promised CSAC that Diaz would be in LA Monday to take the test when Diaz already knew he would do no such thing. He not only made himself look bad he put Strikeforce in a bad situation with CSAC too.
That said, if there is a difference with the CSAC between not taking a test and failing a test, that needs to be changed immediately.
Missing a test should be the same thing as testing positive.
What it’s for doesn’t really matter, all the substances have the same penalty.
And why? Because this is a stupid loophole. There’s no reason to miss a test, especially when the commission bends over backwards to give you an opportunity to take it a second time.
In industry failure to test is considered an admission of guilt but for sports it would end up a whole different can of worms. Now when it comes to pre and post fight they do work that way, if you refuse to test or leave without making yourself available post fight (like Sherk did) then you can get in serious trouble but this issue is about testing for yearly license renewal. That could turn into a real can of worms. I agree with you in theory but I would rather CSAC get their act together on what they do currently instead of trying to break new ground in the sport at this time.
Oh and I’m pretty sure all the substances don’t have the same penalties either, they give different length suspensions for controlled substances and steroid test. They also have different punishments for licensing test and pre/post fight test too.
Is this just in America that its like this? Rio Ferdinand, a player for Manchester United, was banned for 8 months for missing a drugs test in England. A british athlete was banned from the Olympics for missing a drugs test as well.
Do boxing/athletic commissions fall under World Anti-Doping Agency rules?
I think they are moving in that direction, of course as far as CSAC is concerned you have to remember that they just recently overhauled their whole testing system after Armando Garcia got the boot and it seems they still have a lot of kinks to work out. I do know that even if you aren’t supposed to be tested before or after a fight (CSAC test all fighters on the card but most states only test a random sampling off the card)if a fighter isn’t there ready to take it they get in trouble. Pre/post fight test are a different issue than license renewal test.
CSAC has enough problems without jumping into that fight. They still haven’t cleaned up Garcia’s mess and apparently they recently allowed a fighter with Hep C to fight without informing the promotion. Setting up mandatory can’t miss dates for fighters (some of which have to come in from overseas) would be a major mess to tackle.
by who me on Aug 11, 2009 11:22 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
^^This. Even though we see it as a loophole, the practical application of it is that he can’t fight, which ends up being no different than fabricating an injury to pull out of a fight. The promotion can deal with protecting themselves, and future promoters will be mindful of this possibility when they haven’t ensured that all fighters have not secured licenses a week before upcoming cards.
That’s all fine.
But if there is a difference in the way the athletic commission looks at a missed test and a failed test (which it seems like everyone is just assuming), whether it’s the day of the show, after the show, during licensing, random pre-fight drug test, the guy from the AC just wants to drink the piss, that’s a pretty big loophole that could be taken advantage of.
No one from the AC has said anything about when they’ll reconsider Nick’s license, I’m just saying it would be really stupid if there would be a major difference between purposely avoiding a test because you know you’re going to fail, or actually failing the test.
Except nobody but Nick Diaz (and his whacked-out manager, apparently) is going to admit that he is purposely avoiding a test because he knows he’ll fail. There will need to be an official determination, a hearing, and everything else, and considering the budgetary constraints that California agencies are dealing with, I’d imagine that an additional tier of regulatory scrutiny would be more trouble than it’s worth.
Nothing official needs to be done, it’s pretty obvious what’s happening here.
We don’t even know if this will be treated any differently than a positive test because no one has actually said what the penalty for failing a test while you’re trying to get your license (besides getting your license denied right then).
Everyone is just assuming that nick will be able to reapply for a license when he cleans out his system. I don’t think that is, or should be the case.
I think Barnett was prevented from reapplying for a license for a year.
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
Has the CSAC said that?
I think that’s just been the rumor. And if they did, they haven’t said Diaz can’t reapply for a year either.
Barnett failed a test, Diaz no showed to take a test. That is the loophole, if you fail the test then you can’t reapply for a year but if you miss an appointment to take one you can just reapply later. Heck the whole reason Cesar said Nick didn’t take the test now is because he wants to fight again in two months and he wouldn’t get to do that if he failed this one. Cesar is assuming it will be no problem to take it later but then Cesar seems to be assuming a lot of things without actually checking into what the facts are.
http://www.mmaconvert.com/2009/08/10/nick-diaz-may-not-fight-this-weekend/
"He fights every two months," said Gracie. "It’s too bad for Jay Hieron, but what can you do? If you take the test, what’s going to happen? What’s going to happen is he’s gonna not get licensed in California for over a year and not fight this fight. If you don’t take this test, you don’t fight this fight, and you fight next month, because you have time to flush it out of your system."
Yea, I know gracie said that, but I haven’t heard the csac comment on either fighter.
I would be very surprised if they just allowed him to reapply next month (or next week) and I wouldn’t fault them for it.
He should go on celebrity rehab :) He’s always complaining how other fighters get more of the spotlight/money so here would be his chance for some exposure and at the same time get treatment for something that is causing severe problems in his career (they had a girl on there once who smoked weed)
JT moooonnnneyyyyy!!!
It’s retarded that it’s a banned substance in the first place. What’s the reasoning for Marijuana being banned in a fight? Too much introspection between punches? And I’m gonna go ahead and call BS on the federal law too. It should be a person’s right whether or not to use the stuff. Can you really call it worse than tobacco or alcohol?
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
MMA Rankings
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
