Ronda Rousey is the latest among the growing group of MMA fighters to speak up for Nick Diaz.
Diaz was suspended this week five years by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for his constant use of marijuana. Diaz openly admits to smoking weed regularly and has boasted about his ability to beat drug tests (the reality is he actually fails them frequently). He tested positive for marijuana after two of his last three fights, leading to the suspension from the NSAC.
But as Rousey pointed out, the five-year suspension is extraordinarily excessive, especially when compared to Anderson Silva, who tested positive for steroids and was only suspended a year.
“It’s so not right for him to be suspended five years for marijuana,” Ronda Rousey told the media while in Australia, via Bloody Elbow. “I’m against them testing for weed at all. It’s not a performance-enhancing drug. It has nothing to do with athletic competition. It’s only tested for political reasons. They say, ‘Oh, it’s only for your safety to keep you from hurting yourself because you’re out there.’ Why don’t they test for all of the other things that could possibly hurt us?”
Rousey has admitted to smoking weed in the past, which could be part of the reason why she is so passionate about the matter, not to mention that it is legalized in some states.
“There’s no reason for them to be testing for weed. In athletics, the beautiful thing about it is it separates everything from politics. It shouldn’t be involved at all. I don’t think marijuana should be part of the conversation at all. I think it’s an invasion of privacy for them to test for it, and they have no right.
“It’s so unfair if one person tests for steroids that could actually really hurt a person and the other person smokes a plant that makes them happy. He gets suspended for five years, whereas the guy that could hurt someone gets a slap on the wrist. It’s not fair. It’s not fair at all.”
It’s clear the NSAC is drawing a line in the sand with Diaz and saying you cannot be a habitual weed smoker while competing. Their priorities are out of whack if they think that is a graver problem than fighters using steroids or continuously fighting with TUEs for performance-enhancing substances. It’s absurd to think that in a combat sport, the punishment for recreational drugs is much more harsh than the penalties for using performance-enhancing ones. Something needs to be done.
