UFC drug czar optimistic Nick Diaz will fight again
Jeff Novitzky: “I just think Nick’s lifestyle led to those three whereabouts, not that he was trying to avoid testing. We’re trying to work through that.”
There was a significant performance-enhancing drug problem in the UFC, and USADA fixed it. Unfortunately, they also fixed problems that didn’t exist. BJ Penn took an IV, Diego Brandao smoked marijuana, Jon Jones took a bootleg erectile dysfunction tablet tainted with a non-PED, multiple fighters took Meldonium, and three fighters ate meat that was tainted with traces of Clenbuterol.
The latest suspension not for taking a PED but for violating rules set up to catch PED users is Nick Diaz. All UFC fighters have to let USADA know their whereabouts at all times. And Diaz marches to the beat of his own drummer; there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s a laudable, American trait. But he’s is now provisionally suspended for violating the whereabouts policy.
The suspension was announced in June, and the penalty is six months to two years. The investigation process is ongoing six months later. UFC VP of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky appeared recently on The Joe Rogan Experience, and discussed Diaz’s status.
Nick was our first fighter that ran into the whereabouts issue, said Novitzky, as transcribed by Steven Marrocco for MMAjunkie. So he got three whereabouts failures in a rolling 12 months, so he’s currently going through that process. It’s a tough one.”
UFC president Dana White has questioned whether Diaz wants to fight again, but Novitzsky disagrees.
I think he does,” said the drug czar. “I think he does. I’ve sat down with him over the past couple months trying to resolve this whereabouts issues. The unfortunate thing there is, look, the whereabouts failures are there to catch people that are cheating and trying to avoid testing. I just think Nick’s lifestyle led to those three whereabouts, not that he was trying to avoid testing. We’re trying to work through that.
(Diaz) trusted certain individuals to do his whereabouts for him. What I think happened was, over time, those individuals were in and out of his life, and it was unbeknownst to him that he was missing all these things. But again, there’s strict liability here. He’s currently under sanction, but we’re hoping to resolve that pretty quick.
