#FreeNickDiaz

Hello everyone and welcome to the new edition of Armbar's MMA World! Today's topic of discussion is Nick Diaz and the very, very controversial verdict he got from the NSAC.

Where you at, homie?

Nick Diaz is...well cut from a differente cloth, to say it mildly. He and his brother have a history of erradict behavior, spontaneous street fights, unapologetic behavior. And of course, they are both lovers of smoking the controversial green nectar of stoner Gods that is the marijuana plant. Which is exatly the reason why he's gotten himself into this mess in the first place.

 Yep, that's Nick. Mean mugging with his fist up since grade school source     

The verdict

UFC's bad boy has gotten a 5 year suspension for smoking weed. This was Nick's 3rd time getting caught with marijuana in his system and things didn't look good prior to the hearing. However Nick's attorney, made several valid points and arguments that should have lowered Nick's sentence. Unfortunately, no such thing happend. Nick got the death sentence. Here's how it all went down. 

The test

On UFC 183 fight night, Nick took 3 urine tests. First test was administered by a WADA approved SMRTL* representative at 7:12 p.m. prior to his fight. The second test was taken by a none-WADA approved, Quest diagnostic lab at 10:38 p.m. after Nick's fight. Lastley, the third test was taken at 11:55 p.m, once again by a SMRTL representative. Two of those 3 tests came back negative for marijuana and one came back positive showing double the allowed amount in his system. The two that came back negative were the SMRTL tests, which as stated above, are approved by the World anti-doping agency and hold a greater credibility to the Quest diagnostics tests. Nick's lawyler even brought in a drug testing expert who stated that it is MEDICALLY IMPLAUSIBLE that Nick registered that amount of  marijuana in his system between the two negative tests.

The trial

Now I must admit, I haven't seen the entire trial but from the transcripts that I have read and what little  footage of the trial I have seen it all indicates that the this wasn't a trial. It was an execution. Nick's lawyers did their best given the circumstances but it was an uphill battle. Nick was ordered to keep his mouth shut and plea the fifth amendment to any and all questions asked by te commission. Diaz's lawyers presented a series of evidence that pointed out that the Quest diagnostic test was unreliable and incorrect. However, the commission stood firm on their arguments and refused to acknowledge the 2 negative test administered by a more reliable testing facility and focused on the sole negative test. 

                           "Mr Diaz, which Star Wars movie did you like the most? Uhm, the fifth."

Keep in mind, that this is the same commission that gave Anderon Silva a one year fighting suspension starting from the date he last fought, meaning he already served a good chunk of his suspension. Let me remind you that Anderson failed a pre and post fight doping tests for drostanolone metabolites and androstane. Which are actual performance enhanceres, while marijuana is a recreational drug that can be medically acquired with a prescription. Also worth noting is that unlike Diaz's actually coherent and solid defense backed up by evidence, Anderson Silva's was borderline comical. The explanation for Anderson's failed drug tests was sex pills bougth in Thailand from an acquaintance, and his defense attorney flat out said "I don't know" when asked how did his client get in contact with anabolic steroids. Not even joking.

  

                                  Throw in some fart jokes, a pack of beer and you got yourself a frat party

Conclusion

Let's be honest here. Had Nick went in there, with a comically incapable halfwit lawyer who would just shuffle through papers while Nick did his whole loud mouth "don't be scared homie" thing and gave them a spectacle he wouldn't have gotten 5 years. Because this is what these trials are, a spectacle. The commission doesn't care for your arguments and evidence, all they want you to do is confess your sins, bend over and take it like a man. That's why Jake Shields came to the hearing without a lawyer, expressed regret for the post fight attack on Rousimar Palhares and only got 50 hours of community service. Speaking of which, since Rousimar's hearing has been rescheduled to next month it makes me think that as a repeated offender (more on that, here) he will be made an example off and could end up getting and even greater suspension then Diaz. I would also like to take your attention towards the new strict UFC anti doping pollicy under which; Nick not only can't compete in MMA for 5 year, but he can't corner any of his team mates(including his brother), can't train with any professional athlete and any professional athlete that trains with him could end up facing anti doping violation charges and be prosecuted or suspended. This is a topic in itself but it's relevant to the Diaz trail, since it will force him to not train with anyone that the UFC or USADA consider professional athletes.  

p.s. remember those pesky Quest labs/SMRTL test shenanigans I keep rambling about? Well, Anderson Silva tested positive for anabolic steroids on the SMRTL test, but the Quest labs one came back clean. NSAC had no poblem using the SMRTL test result to prove Anderson's guilt, yet in the case of Nick Diaz, they discredit those test results which prove his innocence.

*Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory

Okaaay, well that's that for today. I hope you all enjoyed reading this. I wish Nick the best of luck in the future with his appeal and hope he gets a lighter verdict. With that said, I advert your attention to my social media accounts. I'm now on twitter, facebook AND instagram. So, go there  like and follow me. I tweet MMA news and stuff, Instagram I have yet to learn how to use but I'm getting there. Anywho, I'm Armbar and this is a song to say goodbye.

Fixing the UFC Heavyweight division

Greetings and salutations, internet people. I am here to share with you some thoughts regarding the beautiful mess that is the UFC's heavyweight division right now.


 Intro
 At UFC 188, then current champion Cain Velasquez and interim champion Fabricio Werdum finally faced each other. Werdum came out victorious in a very one sided fight where Werdum displayed outstanding stand up technique and dominate Cain in the clinch, where Cain punished and destroyed Junior Dos Santos twice. The fight ended midway through the 3rd round with Werdum securing a guillotine choke that made Cain tap almost instantly. Complete and total domination by the BJJ master. Werdum already had 2 contenders lined up and ready to get a crack at his newly earned championship belt, in the shape of Stipe Miočić and Andrei Arlovski. Stipe was coming of a dominant doctor stoppage win against the unbreakable Samoan, Mark Hunt and Andrei just got out of an insane first round stoppage win against Travis Browne. Both men had rightfully earned the right to fight the Brazilian. However, with little to no news regarding their potential contentdership for the title both men accepted further fights. Stipe faces Ben Rothwell at UFC Fight Night 76 and Andrei just got a not very convincing win against Frank Mir at UFC 191.

This pretty much sums up the entire 15 minutes of the fight,  source

On top of that, a dark horse match up with 2 potential contenders has been announced for UFC on Fox 17 fight card. The match up is a true "clash of the titans" as Alistair Overeem faces the former hw champion, Junior Dos Santos. Both men are heavy handed strikers who hold a grudge against each other. So, by the end of the year 3 fighters will emerge as contenders for the championship belt. With Andrei, Overeem and JDS already having wins over the champion on their records. But, bad news came quickly and much to the anger of fans, Dana White announced that the champion will instead face the former champion in a rematch.



The Problem
UFC's heavyweight division always gets a bad rep from MMA fans because it seemingly lacks in quality fighters when compared to lower weight classes. Which, unfortunately, was true most of the time. However, not anymore. Today's hw division is very much alive and thriving with excellent fighters and potential and exciting match ups. There is only one problem. It's former champion and current champion are keeping the division hostage. Now the fact that Cain and Werdum are rematching wasn't that much of an issue when it was first announced. Though no date or event was announced, everyone was under the impression it will happen either in the tale end of 2015 or early in 2016. Which would be ok. There would be no shortage in fresh contenders, for the winner of the fight  and the contenders would just have to figure out who goes first. Now, this is where the real problem starts. At the UFC 191 post fight press conference, Dana White, announced that the fight would take place in March at the earliest. Now this complicates things quite a bit. Firstly, let's get something out of the way. Andrei Arlovski more than deserves to fight for the belt. He is a former UFC champion, he's facing an amazing career resurgence with his 10-1-1(4-0 in the UFC) win streak and he isn't getting any younger. He's 36 years old, with his first pro fight being in 1999. This is very likely his last chance to fight for a major heavyweight title. The secondly, the problem is that UFC is having the best Heavyweight division in years and they are burning through contenders because of a pointless rematch. Cain showed nothing in his Werdum loss that would guarantee him a second chance. Andrei will more than likely fight once or maybe even twice more before he gets to see the winner of Cain/Werdum rematch. With that they are risking loosing a top contender and a great comeback story, that could come crashing down. Also, by the time the championship rematch takes place, the dreaded "injury bug" could show it's ugly face and ruin everyone's day. Which is already(sort off) happening as both Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski are facing a potential 6 month medical suspension.




The Solution
EDIT:
Looks like the champ wants an earlier fight after all. Either the backlash from the fans forced him to change his mind, or Dana White is pulling information out of his ass, as per usual. This still doesn't change the fact that the division is at a standstill and top contenders are forced to fight against each other or wait indefinitely for their title shot which may or may not come.


The solution is pretty simple actually. Have Velasquez fight someone else and give the title shot to Andrei Arlovski. The contender gets the fight he deserves and the former champion fights his way back up. But, since this is obviously not happening, there needs to be a long term solution for these situations. It's almost an unwritten rule that an immediate rematch happens when a championship belts exchange owners. It's a clear case of making money fights over logical fights. This is a very unnerving trend. It keeps the belt hostage and division stops moving until the rematch happens. Now what's particularly interesting about this rematch is that it seems that the champion is requesting this fight happens in march. Unless baring a nagging injury, the champion should be forced to defend his belt at earliest convenience for the organization he is the champion off. Which for some reason isn't happening. What baffles the mind in this story is that the big boss, Dana White is "a-ok" with it. Dana has the ability to force fighters to fight earlier if he wishes so, and(If its to believe Cung Le's version of events) he has done so in the past. So It really makes no sense in letting the freshly crowned champion sit on his belt and defend it when he feels like it. Neither does throwing your hands in the air and saying "that's when the champ wants to fight" with a turd eating grin slapped across your face.




Final Thoughts
Now let's be honest. This isn't the first time UFC made money fights over logical ones. Ryan Bader was promised a title shot against the newly crowned LHW champion Daniel Cormier when it was announced that Alexander Gustafsson is stepping in his place, even though he's coming off a loss.

 

Fun fact: Anthony Johnson is the one loss Andrei Arlovski suffered since having his career resurgence

Miesha Tate was promised her 3rd shot at Ronda Rousey publicly by Dana White. She even began the training camp for the trilogy fight when it was announced that they are going with Holly Holm against Ronda instead. Chael Sonnen was a master in talking himself into undeserved high profile fights. He fought against Jon Jones for the LHW belt, even though he didn't fight in that weight class for over 8 years and his last fight being a loss. I could go on for a while, since these things happen quite often and they will continue to happen until it has an effect on the division as a whole. Which is something that could very well end up happening to the Heavyweight division with the rematch fight.




Okaaay. Well, this was fun to write. I'm now on twitter, so you can follow me there. I tweet and retweet MMA news and stuff. I'm still on facebook, so you can check me out over there also. Oh and I'm on madbarz (I-i-i workout) also. So...follow me there and try beating my scores, if you can. That's all from me. Talk to you all soon.