Yesterday we broke the news that Tyson Griffin had tested positive for traces of marijuana in his system at UFC 123 back in November of 2010. This was a story that, somehow, had never been brought to light as the promotion never mentioned it and the Michigan Unarmed Combat Commission didn't publicize it aside from handing down the suspension at a meeting which saw minutes published on the website.

After the story was published,UFC Senior VP of Government & Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner offered up the following statement to Bloody Elbow:

"The Michigan Commission found traces of a banned substance in Mr Griffin's post-fight urine analysis following his bout at UFC 123. The Commission fined and suspended Mr Griffin, but did not make this information public.

"As always the UFC followed the directive of the sanctioning Commission. Mr Griffin did not compete in the UFC again until after his suspension had ended."

Brent Brookhouse: Tyson Griffin Tested Positive For Marijuana At UFC 123

There has been some talk that if the state commission does not make the information public knowledge, the promotion can't do so either. In cases like the Chris Leben suspensions that the UFC made public on their own, they were the ones acting as the "commission" for the fights.

One of my issues with this is that, while I still have significant problems with the way the Michigan commission did their job, they did technically make the information public when they suspended Griffin at a public meeting and publicly published meeting minutes covering his suspension for testing positive for a banned substance.

While the UFC may not have been able to say exactly what Griffin popped a positive for, I still believe that this was a case where they could have still said that Tyson tested positive for a banned substance and had subsequently been suspended.

Regardless, it's good that the UFC at least saw fit to comment on the situation at this point.