Silly move, Nate.
Nate Diaz just smoked weed on the press conference stage. I believe he's still in competition…
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohn) August 21, 2016
Nate Diaz’s decision to appear for interviews after UFC 202 with cannabis may come back to haunt him.
The American fighter lit up a vape pen of CBD oil during the media scrum not long after losing to Conor McGregor and he made no apologies for it.
“It [CBD] helps with the healing process and inflammation, stuff like that. So you want to get these for before and after the fights, training. It’ll make your life a better place.
“You can test me every day of the year,” Diaz said on Fox Sports. “Piss loaded with cannabis, no steroids. You ain’t gonna catch no steroids in me for the rest of my life.”
You can be caught with cannabis though.
And cannabinoids are banned in-competition substances by the World Anti-Doping Agency. USADA – the UFC’s partner in drug-testing of athletes – uses WADA’s prohibited list.
“In-competition” is considered six hours before and after a fight and Diaz lit up in that time in front of the world’s media.
So it has come to USADA’s attention. The US Anti-Doping Agency are looking into what happened.
“I can confirm that USADA is aware of the situation and is currently gathering information in order to determine the next appropriate steps,” USADA spokesperson Ryan Madden told MMA Fighting in a statement.
It could mean that Diaz faces a suspension for an infringement of the doping policies if he’s found to be guilty and that would throw talk of a trilogy fight with Conor McGregor up in the air.
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