Pickin’ on Nick
Posted by Chad Edward on March 27th, 2008“Let Nick test!”
It’s a chant heard across the mixed martial arts community tonight after ProElite President Gary Shaw described the injustice the California State Athletic Commission has perpetrated on Nick Diaz (15-7).
The CSAC has denied Diaz a license to fight on Saturday’s Strikeforce card in San Jose.
Shaw claims it’s because Diaz admitted to using doctor-prescribed medical marijuana to treat his Attention Deficit Disorder in a mandatory medical exam two weeks ago.
Diaz is a resident of California where citizens voted to legalize medical marijuana in 1996.
“Let Nick test!”
It’s a chant echoed tonight by Diaz’s friend and training partner, Jake Shields (20-4-1).
“It’s fucking stupid,” Shields texted to me tonight. “It’s not like he tested positive.
“Fine, if you want to say someone can’t fight on doctor prescribed steroids,” Shields added the analogy on the phone, “but, you still have to test him.”
“Let Nick test!”
CSAC Executive Officer Armando Garcia claimed to MMA Weekly Thursday that Diaz turned-in his medical information late.
Shaw described the impossibility of that scenario. Thursday, he told Sherdog.com, “We have guys getting licensed today, so you know it’s an outright lie.”
Diaz, who hasn’t fought since last November, loses a $50,000 purse. He told a press conference in San Jose today, “I trained to fight, but unfortunately it’s not going down.”
Sherdog.com reports Garcia declined to comment on Shaw’s claims.
That’s unacceptable to fighters and fans.
As Shaw explained at Thursday’s press conference, “It’s wrong what [Garcia] did to Nick. It’s wrong what he did to mixed martial arts. It’s wrong what he did to Scott Coker and myself. It’s wrong what he did to the opponent of Nick’s, who trained to fight Nick. It’s wrong for everybody they advertised that Nick would fight on this card.”
Fighters and fans can e-mail Garcia at: armando_garcia@dca.ca.gov with the subject line: “Let Nick test!” and let him know his actions against Nick Diaz are wrong.
joesmailer said:
It is pretty stupid, let the poor guy fight.