No Holds Barred: On the Chael Sonnen and Nick Diaz Rulings by the Nevada State Athletic Commission

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman comments on the May 21 hearing and rulings by the Nevada State Athletic Commission regarding UFC fighters Chael Sonnen and Nick Diaz.

Sonnen had been suspended in 2010 by the California State Athletic Commission for an elevated testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio of 16.9:1. The CSAC only allowed for a maximum ratio for athletes of 4:1. Sonnen claimed that he needed testosterone replacement therapy, and on Monday applied for, and was granted, a therapeutic use exemption by the Nevada commission.

We read a statement by Victor Conte, the former BALCO mastermind who is now an anti-doping consultant and activist, calling this ruling "outrageous". We explain why this exemption in essence, whatever the intent, puts the Nevada commission in the role of being an enabler of doping rather than a preventer and blocker of doping, and thus support calls for this commission to be investigated and its members fired.

In addition, we discuss the one-year suspension and fine handed down to Nick Diaz for a positive test for marijuana metabolites, and contrast this to the kid glove treatment afforded Sonnen. Diaz has a medical marijuana card in his home state of California. But we also argue that Diaz, who had been suspended by this same commission back in 2007 for marijuana use, should not have been allowed to get off without any punishment. We also question the views of those who simply want to remove marijuana from the list of banned substances in the World Anti-Doping Code, and much more.

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Thanks, Eddie Goldman http://eddiegoldman.com

Eddie... You're the man. I've been following the UFC & then MMA near as long as you've been covering it. You always blow me away with the people you have access to immediately at the time they are relevant to the real socio-political-economic & true sporting aspects of the SPORT. You're also truly independent of the UFC or any one organization for sustenance. There is not one responsible journalist any where in MMA doing this. Most all & their MMA media outlets are 100% reliant on access to the UFC in order to keep food on their tables. Hostages... not independent free press members.

Dagwood wrote:
Watch the CA goverment hearing on their proposed MMA fighter rights bill. You'll find that most all the UFC executives who testified mentioned during their testimony they were former-NSAC employees. Mmm.. Lorenzo was a commissioner . Haha.

The whole thing is a f'n organized crime scam. I mean really.

This stuff needs to be exposed to the mainstream sports media and entire mainstream media. Like the ESPN piece on fighter pay. Give the public and even the US Congress all the fact and let them decided if this should be allowed to go on.

This is 100% a complete conflict of interest and 100% complete corruption by Dana & the Fertittas in MMA. It's a racket. They are trying to fix the whole game and dupe everyone.

Would the people, or the government let the NFL league, the teams & its players be owned by a former Commissioner of the league... who's executives are former employees of the body governing the whole National Football League???

Would congress allow that?

Would congress allow that for for MLB?

What if this former-NFL commissioner went out and bought one of the largest casino gambling operations in the US which also operates sports betting through a partnerships???

What if this former-NFL commissioner and his immediate family had a 100 year history of being a well-documented organized crime family???

The Fertitta's have every opportunity to be running illegal rackets in MMA. Especially in light of their family history. This could be the best infrastructure set-up for any mafia racket ever seen. Not built by street hood made guys, but Ivy League MBA-types. The 'new breed' 'new-era' sons of a FBI wire tap self-implicated mafia Meyerbeer of his own major mafia family. Ha.

This will be exposed much sooner than later. All of us here along with you Eddie will ensure it does. We all love this sport too much not to do anything about this.

I'm gonna have to take issue with your stance that marijuana should be illegal for athletes.

The issue of fighter's garbage training methods causing them to be hurt is serious, but really none of
the cases involve drug or alcohol use. I'm not aware of Diaz canceling a fight because he was injured in training, in contrast to his clean cut no dope-smoking colleagues. As far as it making the problem worse, you would have to assume that most fighters who smoke, would do so in training as opposed to in their spare time. Hypothetically, even if we're to prove than training while high is dangerous, how can a test
of any sort tell if a fighter was using marijuana while training, as opposed to just recreationally.

Keep up the great work.

People do not usually smoke marijuana in cigarettes. Or, maybe that's how they do it in New York. It is how they do it in the Netherlands. But not on the West Coast. People smoke out of pipes, bongs, joints, and sometimes blunts (which does contain tobacco in the cigar paper). That's kind of pretentious to equate marijuana smoking with tobacco smoking.

Also, marijuana is a plant so there is no issue with getting it from non-dispensary sources. It isn't like pharmaceuticals where you get a mix of chemicals. It comes from a plant which grows in the ground and which you dry the buds from. Also, medical marijuana allows for growing yourself, or having it grown for you, which is the same thing in effect. It doesn't have to come from dispensaries, in principle, as it is.

Finally, the idea of equating his "slurred speech" with his marijuana use is also incredibly pretentious. Can you cite me one scientific study which equates marijuana use with a detiariortion of speech? You seriously compared Diaz's consequences of marijuana smoking with Riddick Bowe? Wow, talk about clueless. In my opinion, his speech mannerisms are basically culturally based. A lot of people from where he's from talk the way he does. It's very common in sports that athletes when interviewed speak with a very non-mainstream 'dialect' if you will, as sports have a strong tendency to elevate into the public spotlight people who wouldn't usually be elevated as such.

You may want to chalk my comments down to someone he is biased in the way of pro-marijuana; well even in so doing it is necessary to address my legitimate points, which I argue includes all of them.

And your overall analysis is fair (even though I don't really agree).

The reasons I don't agree though is because in my opinion, the fact of the political circumstances, i.e. the drug war which you berate, has much to do with it's status as a banned substance. This is my opinion. But if my opinion is correct, one cannot logically disconnect the circumstances as such.

Also, in my opinion marijuana presents an alternative to the use of say narcotic pain killers. For that matter, it may be an alternative for over-the-counter pain relievers as well. As far as which is preferable to health (aspirin/ibuprofen/Tylenol/etc. or marijuana), I don't know, and it isn't really my point. My point is more so that in a profession in which bumps, bruises, dislocations, etc. etc. are a daily part of life, I find no problem quite frankly at all with marijuana use as a therapeutic substance. Perhaps one should be advised not to spar on it, but how is that much different from the "use caution when operating a motor vehicle" warning labels on narcotic pain killers (or alcohol for that matter), for instance. In fact, marijuana does not effect one's physical abilities as much as either of these. Yes it is mind altering, but it doesn't adversely effect ones balance, nor does it much effect the reflexes (certainly not by comparison). This brings us back to the political circumstances, which are in a nut shell the context for the illicit status of marijuana, extending to sports, in my humble opinion.

Finally, there is no question that marijuana is not a performance enhancing judge, at least if you go by say the standards of Wada (which define 5 clear categories, none of which could possibly include marijuana).

^^ Guys...

I of same opinion as you about in that marijuana does not enhance athletic performance. I also don't think it should be illegal in any society. On it's own it is a natural healing medicine from nature. Just an apple heals & chronic hunger pain of the stomach prunes can relieve serve abdominal pain.

Both of you have to look at what I 'think' Eddie has been referring to here.

This really is a an illegal drugs and controlled substances issue. People are missing the core this ever where this discussion is happening.

I myself don't think it would be appropriate for Nick to have the illegal drug heroine in his system for an MMA fight though it is a depressant as marijuana is.

I also wouldn't want Nick have child porn on his person in the cage. Both of these things are criminal to posses or distribute.

Why should illegal drugs, controlled substance or child porn be allowed in MMA if they aren't legal in society??? Where is Nick or anybody going to get a doctor's note for heroine or child porn?

Until criminal laws change, you guys really should rethink your opinions on this.

Crime in the cage/ring = No No in sanctioned MMA. If not, it won't be sanctioned for long.

Just say no to child porn in MMA.

Dagwood wrote:^^ Guys...

I of same opinion as you about in that marijuana does not enhance athletic performance. I also don't think it should be illegal in any society. On it's own it is a natural healing medicine from nature. Just an apple heals & chronic hunger pain of the stomach prunes can relieve serve abdominal pain.

Both of you have to look at what I 'think' Eddie has been referring to here.

This really is a an illegal drugs and controlled substances issue. People are missing the core this ever where this discussion is happening.

I myself don't think it would be appropriate for Nick to have the illegal drug heroine in his system for an MMA fight though it is a depressant as marijuana is.

I also wouldn't want Nick have child porn on his person in the cage. Both of these things are criminal to posses or distribute.

Why should illegal drugs, controlled substance or child porn be allowed in MMA if they aren't legal in society??? Where is Nick or anybody going to get a doctor's note for heroine or child porn?

Until criminal laws change, you guys really should rethink your opinions on this.

Crime in the cage/ring = No No in sanctioned MMA. If not, it won't be sanctioned for long.

Just say no to child porn in MMA.

Pretty strange comparisons, but I don't see how they relate to my points at all, or the points to which I directly responded.

And your right that you can't get a prescription for heroin, but you can get a prescription for all sorts of other crazy narcotics.

On the legality question, yes this is a sticking point. It is also not the point that I was responding to. I understand the bureaucratic significance of this, but it is not the context I was responding to. I was responding to points which were specifically raised by Eddie.

The fact that it has been decriminalized in a number of states does complicate the question a little bit, although it is still federally illegal. Then again, why does it need to be tested for in the first place for a PED testing regime? I can understand for a probation check up, but why is it the role of the athletic commission?

Marijuana is banned because it is a narcotic and mind-altering. So are other stronger substances which are generally not performance-enhancing, such as cocaine, heroin, etc.

If Diaz seriously wants to get his medical marijuana recognized for a therapeutic use exemption, the commission still would have to set limits on how much he could use as a fighter. Obviously this commission is a cruel joke and didn't even do that for testosterone, but that is what they would have to do.

I have not heard of any TUEs for marijuana, so it would be precendent-setting. But NSAC seems to want to do what their real bosses, Arum, Fertitta, and the big casino owners, want them to do, and marijuana is not on their agenda.

Also, they can appear like they are tough on drugs by not budging on marijuana, which is a well-known drug, while allowing testosterone, which is not as well-known.

nhbnews wrote:Marijuana is banned because it is a narcotic and mind-altering. So are other stronger substances which are generally not performance-enhancing, such as cocaine, heroin, etc.

If Diaz seriously wants to get his medical marijuana recognized for a therapeutic use exemption, the commission still would have to set limits on how much he could use as a fighter. Obviously this commission is a cruel joke and didn't even do that for testosterone, but that is what they would have to do.

I have not heard of any TUEs for marijuana, so it would be precendent-setting. But NSAC seems to want to do what their real bosses, Arum, Fertitta, and the big casino owners, want them to do, and marijuana is not on their agenda.

Also, they can appear like they are tough on drugs by not budging on marijuana, which is a well-known drug, while allowing testosterone, which is not as well-known.

You're a wise wise man on all points Eddie and MMA has that kinda' thing in very short supply. Especially it's media.

Dagwood wrote:
Watch the CA goverment hearing on their proposed MMA fighter rights bill. You'll find that most all the UFC executives who testified mentioned during their testimony they were former-NSAC employees. Mmm.. Lorenzo was a commissioner . Haha.

The whole thing is a f'n organized crime scam. I mean really.

nhbnews wrote:Marijuana is banned because it is a narcotic and mind-altering. So are other stronger substances which are generally not performance-enhancing, such as cocaine, heroin, etc.

If Diaz seriously wants to get his medical marijuana recognized for a therapeutic use exemption, the commission still would have to set limits on how much he could use as a fighter. Obviously this commission is a cruel joke and didn't even do that for testosterone, but that is what they would have to do.

I have not heard of any TUEs for marijuana, so it would be precendent-setting. But NSAC seems to want to do what their real bosses, Arum, Fertitta, and the big casino owners, want them to do, and marijuana is not on their agenda.

Also, they can appear like they are tough on drugs by not budging on marijuana, which is a well-known drug, while allowing testosterone, which is not as well-known.

Well, by way of extending the inherent logic of my arguments, I would have to argue that these drugs too shouldn't be banned if they are not performance enhancing.

This does open up issues in choosing what is and isn't a performance enhancing drug, especially when such drugs are not sufficiently evaluated (indeed, WADA doesn't allow anything which hasn't been approved, as an over-the-counter, or prescription substance, for this very reason--things have to be sufficiently scientifically tested in order to warrant consideration as a performance enhancing or non-performance enhancing drug).

This opens up new issues of course, as this is for the most part all done by the pharmaceutical industry itself through clinic trials and other studies, the results of which are then stamped (or not) by authorities like the FDA. So while the scientific standards are necessary, the fact is they are essentially limit the purview to the results of the pharmaceutical industry. I would argue that some reevaluating is necessary here as well.

However, I do not agree with the notion that cocaine and heroin are banned because they are mind altering narcotics. In my opinion, this has nothing to do with it; it is merely as I just described in my view.

Checking this one out finally.