http://www.mmafighting.com/ufc/2012/4/26/2975324/nick-diaz-sues-nevada-athletic-commission-nsac-due-process-rights-mma-news

WHAT!!!

http://mmaconvert.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/diaz_simpsons.gif

They need to stop pickin on Nick, man. He's one of the best and is cooler than a polar bears toe-nails. I think it's fuckin crap that he got suspended for pot, anyway - a substance that is hardly a performance enhancer... I mean, rules are rules, but the whole things just stupid. That gif is classic.

Agreed, if you were one of his opponents wouldn't you prefer that he was high during his training. Pot is not a PED.

Great article. So if this precedent is set the state athletic commission will haves lot less power to suspend fighters on a whim? I suppose the commission still determines what affects the public wellfare though. These commissions need to be taken down a peg.

Pretty solid case for Nick. The point about the violation of his due process rights seems like a lock. The NSAC is a government body, by statutory law they have to address his suspension with a hearing within 45 days, they didn't.

The point about suspension being a matter of public welfare is a bit murkier. As I'm not even sure how the public welfare applies--to say nothing of the likely myriad causes for which it is invoked--I'm not going to guess on that.

The due process claim shouldn't really shake anything up. The NSAC will just have to make sure they actually hold hearings within the time frame that they are required to. We might see a rash of athletes scouring the rules to find other instances of the NSAC not following their own rules as a defense.

The public welfare bit would seem to jeopardize the NSAC's ability to suspend a fighter. I'd love to hear someone with some knowledge of the topic explain how the public welfare is being used in the statute regarding suspensions.

Agreed, if you were one of his opponents wouldn't you prefer that he was high during his training. Pot is not a PED.

The only way pot could be a PED is it's ability to dull pain. That said, unless he was smoking in the locker room it wouldn't make a difference. That bit of weed he did two days before, or whatever wouldn't help a lick. It's pretty dumb that it's on the list of PED's they test for.

Weeks before, not days.

I hope Nick wins $$$MILLIONS$$$.