Nick Diaz tests positive for Marijuana in UFC 143 post drug test

UFC welterweight contender Nick Diaz failed his post-fight urinalysis Saturday following his loss to Carlos Condit in their bout for the interim welterweight championship at UFC 143 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, announced Thursday.

Diaz, 28, who tested positive for marijuana, is a second-time offender in Nevada and, thus, faces a one-year suspension. He also tested positive for marijuana following a Feb. 24, 2007, victory over Takanori Gomi at a PRIDE Fighting Championship event held at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Six weeks after the first positive test the commission fined Diaz $3,000 (20 percent of his $15,000 purse), suspended him for six months and changed his win over Gomi to a no-decision. The commission’s report in 2007 noted Diaz’s concentration of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, was 175, three-and-a-half times the concentration level of 50 required under Nevada regulations to produce a positive test result.

“All results received thus far have been negative, except Mr. Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites,” Kizer said in a release Thursday. “A complaint for disciplinary action against Mr. Diaz has been filed.”

Diaz isn’t the first fighter to test positive for marijuana recently. Matt Vanda appeared before the Nevada commission Jan. 31 after a second positive test for marijuana. He had initially been suspended for 90 days by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board after marijuana was discovered in his system following a Nov. 12, 2010, bout against Ossie Duran.

Marijuana was again found in Vanda’s system following a Dec. 16, 2011, loss to Marco Antonio Rubio in Las Vegas and on Jan. 31 the Nevada commission fined Vanda 40 percent of his $11,000 purse and suspended him for a year.

If Diaz is fined 40 percent of his purse, it would cost him $80,000 of the $200,000 he earned in the unanimous decision loss to Condit last Saturday for the UFC interim welterweight title.

Diaz was on the verge of getting a rematch with Condit for the interim championship when the test results returned and scuttled the bout. UFC president Dana White, in Brazil to tape “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” sent out a message on Twitter late Tuesday in which he said Condit had agreed to a rematch.

But all sides denied Wednesday that a rematch had been agreed upon before news of the positive test result was released Thursday.

UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said he was “disappointed” to hear of Diaz’s positive test. He said the UFC would honor any punishment Diaz was given and would not seek to have him fight in areas which are not regulated.

When the UFC holds events out of the U.S., if there is not a local body that regulates the sport, the UFC self-regulates. Marc Ratner, the UFC vice president for regulatory affairs and Kizer’s predecessor as executive director of the Nevada commission, runs those events under Nevada rules.

“We would stand behind whatever decision Nevada makes and if Nick is given a punishment, we would accept it,” he said. “Marijuana is an illegal substance and if you choose to take that, you have to pay the price for it.”

Condit accepts rematch with Diaz

At UFC 143 on Saturday, Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit fought five rounds for the UFC Interim Welterweight title, with Condit winning the unanimous decision. The outcome was controversial, with Diaz, along with many fans, fighters, and media members feeling that his constant forward pressure was enough to win a clear decision.

At the post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White said he was open to the possibility of a rematch, but made it clear that both parties had to be eager to fight. As Diaz was so maddened by the decision that he announced his retirement immediately post-bout in the Octagon, and because yesterday Condit's camp indicated they were not interested, there was little hope that the rematch would be made.

However, sources close to the deal just confirmed with The Underground that Carlos Condit has accepted a rematch with Nick Diaz, with the UFC Interim Welterweight title again on the line.

Condit said 'Yes, I accept the rematch' and will be in Las Vegas on Friday to finalize the deal.

The winner will presumably face GSP for the Unified Welterweight title, when the Canadian recovers fully from knee surgery, which is expected to be around November.

It's unclear at this time as to when the rematch will take place, but it looks like the fans have got what they asked for.

UFC President has since confirmed this story via his Twitter: @justScrap85 @carloscondit @malkikawa the rumor is true. Carlos did accept the fight today and Carlos is coming on Friday not thur.

UFC 143 Complete Weigh-in Results

Full Weigh-In Results

Carlos Condit (169) vs. Nick Diaz (169)

Roy Nelson (246) vs. Fabricio Werdum (246)

Josh Koscheck (170) vs. Mike Pierce (170)

Renan Barao (136) vs. Scott Jorgensen (135)

Ed Herman (185) vs. Clifford Starks (185)

Max Holloway (144) vs. Dustin Poirier (146)

Alex Caceres (136) vs. Edwin Figueroa (135)

Matt Brown (171) vs. Chris Cope (171)

Jorge Lopez (169) vs. Matt Riddle (170)

Rafael Natal (186) vs. Michael Kuiper (183)

Dan Stittgen (170) vs. Stephen Thompson (171)

UFC 143 goes down tomorrow night on pay-per-view, and the interim welterweight title will be on the line in the main event between former WEC champion Carlos Condit and former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz.

Diaz returned to the UFC last October when he defeated B.J. Penn by unanimous decision. Condit is currently riding a four-fight winning streak, with wins over Dong Hyun Kim, Dan Hardy, Jake Ellenberger and Rory MacDonald.

In the co-main event, Fabricio Werdum returns to the Octagon to face former Ultimate Fighter winner Roy Nelson.

Also on the card is a bout between welterweight standouts Josh Koscheck and Mike Pierce.

UFC Primetime Diaz vs. Condit Episode 2

Check out episode 2 of UFC Primetime Diaz vs. Condit.

UFC 143 Diaz vs Condit: Prime Time episode 1

With UFC 143 just around the corner, to get the much anticipated welterweight interim title fight more hype, the UFC has release the first episode of UFC Primetime. Check it out below.

Enjoy guys! More episodes to come when we get a hold of them.

Georges St. Pierre's trainer Firas Zahabi "GSP Doing Great After Surgery"

UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has begun the process of recovering from a torn ACL and he’s doing well, according to trainer Firas Zahabi.

“He’s doing great. He’s doing fantastic,” Zahabi told the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “He’s doing the post-surgery rehab, and then after he’s done doing that -- it should be done in March -- he’s going to start his sports rehabilitation.”

St. Pierre underwent surgery in December. He’ll soon be rehabbing under the guidance of Gavin MacMillan, the founder and head trainer at Sport Science Lab.

“He trains Troy Polamalu from the NFL,” Zahabi said. “Tremendous trainer. I’ve been corresponding with him for the last little bit since Georges got injured. We have complete faith in him. He’s been through this process before with NFL players. The doctor was more than happy with the results of the surgery. Things are looking really good. Georges is extremely motivated to come back. He’s very excited. He’s got that fire roaring now bigger than ever. Everything is lined up for success hopefully.”

A knee injury forced St. Pierre out of an October title defense against Carlos Condit. He was expected to recover for a fight against Nick Diaz on Feb. 4, but instead he tore his ACL in early December and that bout was also scratched.

“He had an existing injury before the tear,” Zahabi said. “He kept training, and it tore. He realized he was trying to save time and not miss a fight, and it turned out that he’s going to miss a whole year. I don’t think he’ll come back too fast. It was a mistake he did before, and I think he’ll be sure not to repeat it again.”

Diaz has suggested St. Pierre’s injuries are the result of how he trains. Zahabi acknowledged that St. Pierre trains explosively, but he also said they’re careful to minimize injury risk.

“For Georges, working explosively has always worked for him,” Zahabi said. “… You can get an injury from any type of training. Anything you do a lot of, you can get hurt at. You’ve got to manage the risk and do the training that’s best suited for you. Endurance training works for Nick, and Georges’ training has been working for him.” 

UFC 143 Preview

Nick Diaz versus Carlos Condit for the UFC Interim Welterweight Title on UFC 143. Here is the preview for the event.

B.J. Penn's Camp Reveals Why He's Lost Respect for Nick Diaz

I'm pretty sure many of you have seen or heard the posts on BJ Penn's Twitter account regarding Nick Diaz and the not so sultry words he has for the former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion and current UFC contender.

While, in the eyes of the public, both former champions appeared to be friends following their UFC 137 bout last October.

With such an amicable relationship in the wake of battle, it perplexed many fans and analysts alike when Penn called out Diaz in his recent Twitter post.

Now, Penn's camp has come out to explain where the bad blood stems from and why Penn no longer respects Diaz.

In a post on BJPenn.com, Penn's Web site, social media manager Scott Hernandez explained that after their fight, Penn's relationship with Diaz had deteriorated and that they were no longer friends.

"The media may have painted a picture following the fight that things where (sic) cool," Hernandez said. "But they were not."

Hernandez points to their photo together in the locker room after the bout as an example of the public and the media receiving a false sense of the fighters' relationship.

"The one photo of the two together post-fight was taken by Cesar and B.J. and Nick did no socializing amongst each other after the fight," Hernandez said. "This was just a picture painted by the media, but it was never all flowers and butterflies."

Hernandez goes on to explain that Diaz's actions prior to and after the bout sparked Penn to lose respect for his former friend, listing four key moments that changed the former UFC champion's mind.

The break down began at the weigh-ins the day before they headlined UFC 137. After such a respectful tone was set in previous interviews and events, Penn was shocked when Diaz got in his face and attempted to strike him as they butted heads.

During the fight, Penn did not take kindly to a shoulder bump by the former Strikeforce champion in between rounds.

"The shoulder check was disrespectful, unwarranted and unnecessary," Hernandez said.

The third straw was when Diaz yelled at Jason Parillo, Penn's boxing coach, after the fight had ended and the two fighters were waiting for the decision to be read.

What finally put Penn over the edge was when Diaz apparently insulted him on HDNet, saying that he was "bitter" and had more to say on Penn and their fight.

"These actions are not of friends; these are actions of people who do not like each other," Hernandez said. "Nick crossed the line with B.J. on more than one occasion and that was all she wrote."

MMA Trainer Firas Zahabi Says Georges St-Pierre's Recovery Is Going "Very Well"

Since undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL a few weeks ago, Georges St-Pierre has been out of the spotlight. He has been working hard to rehabilitate his knee and make a successful return to the Octagon.

The champion suffered the injury during a training session earlier this month and it forced him out his scheduled bout with Nick Diaz at UFC 143. Since then, there hasn't been much update on St-Pierre's status.

St-Pierre's trainer and close friend, Frias Zahabi, recently spoke to MMAFightCorner.com about the champion's injury. He revealed that the surgery was a success and that "Rush" is doing well.

"GSP is recovering very well," Zahabi said. "Georges will start rehab at The Sports Science Lab, has been in contact with me regularly and is motivated to start rehabilitation. Everyone is very confident on a full recovery and we are all looking forward to the next training"

Zahabi opened up about his relationship with St-Pierre and said the two remain very close. While Zahabi is widely considered to be one of the most successful trainers in Montreal, the Tri-Star gym coach said he originally began training in mixed martial arts.

It was during his introduction to MMA that Zahabi befriended the French-Canadian. As he explained:

"I have been working with GSP for 10 years now. We started out as training partners. We got along very quickly and become very close. After that Georges asked me to be his head coach and take his training more seriously. He wanted me to oversee all his training as we have similar mentalities on how to train. We have been training together ever since."

While St-Pierre remains sidelined, his original opponent, Diaz, will meet Carlos Condit for the UFC interim welterweight title at UFC 143.

Jake Shields Would "Love an Opportunity" To Fight Anderson Silva

The last time we saw Jake Shields in the Octagon, Jake Ellenberger ended his night in a mere 53 seconds. Prior to the loss to “The Juggernaut,” he dropped a unanimous decision to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 129.

Shields will face Yoshihiro Akiyama in his next bout, which will take place on February 26 in Saitama, Japan. While the Akiyama fight is at welterweight, Shields may very well be considering a UFC future at middleweight, months ahead of that UFC 144 battle.

While a loss against Akiyama would give Shields the dreaded three straight defeats in the UFC, it seems unlikely that he would be released, as he remains a viable “name” for the promotion. His move to middleweight would not be spurred on by the thought that he can’t compete at the welterweight level, but instead it would most likely be brought on by the fact that his training partner and friend Nick Diaz could very well become the interim UFC welterweight champion.

Diaz will face Carlos Condit on February 4 in the main event of UFC 143. With welterweight champion St-Pierre on the shelf due to recent ACL surgery, the UFC has elected to award the winner of the Diaz versus Condit fight the interim title while St-Pierre heals. If Diaz does capture the crown, the two fighters have made it very clear that they would never want to face each other in a non-training environment.

If Shields does move to middleweight, he would welcome a shot at the 185-pound champion, Anderson Silva.

“That’s a fight I’ve wanted for a long time,” Shields told MMAFightCorner.com. “Anderson’s a phenomenal fighter, one of the best of all time, but I just think stylistically the guys that match up best against him are wrestlers with good jiu-jitsu.

"Chael did great with him until he got caught in a triangle right at the end. His worst matchup’s against good wrestlers and jiu-jitsu, and it’s just he’s a great matchup. Obviously it wouldn’t be an easy fight because I think he has the best standup in the sport, but that’s a fight I would love an opportunity to do.”

Obviously, a number things have to fall in line for Shields to make that move to middleweight, but if they do, Shields would gladly add his name to the growing list of fighters that want a shot at the man that has never lost inside the Octagon, Silva.

The Road back for GSP

The UFC welterweight champ tore his ACL when training for a bout with Nick Diaz. While the UFC moves forward with an interim belt, George St. Pierre is at the beginning of a long road back to having a healthy leg again.

That started with surgery, which was deemed a success, and now rehabilitation. Above, he is in a continuous passive motion machine, which prevents GSP's leg from getting stiff without putting him in pain.

GSP's Knee Surgery a Success

After blowing out the ACL of his right knee in training and withdrawing from his scheduled title defense against Nick Diaz, UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre successfully underwent surgery yesterday in Los Angeles. As he tweeted: “Dr. ElAttrache says my surgery (ACL patellar tendon autograft) was huge success! Ligament very strong. Tks for support!”

St. Pierre wrote last week that he expects to make a full recovery from the surgery in six to nine months. We don’t have an e.t.a. on exactly when he might return to face the winner of Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit, but after two knee injuries and more than a year on the sidelines, it could turn out to be the toughest fight of St. Pierre’s career.

After the jump, more details about GSP’s knee injury from a conference call St. Pierre held last week with his doctor, Sebastien Simard:

“In the preparation for Carlos Condit, he injured his left knee during a sparring session. The diagnosis at that moment was a sprained MCL, a diagnosis that was confirmed by the MRI. Georges tried to continue his training camp even though he had the pain and while doing another sparring session, he had the little injury on the right leg at the time and the diagnosis on his right leg was a pulled hamstring. So, having injuries on both knees, we decided to cancel the fight against Mr. Condit.

Georges went on and did his physical therapy and rehab and everything went perfectly. He recovered completely from the injury to the left knee. He started back training and while doing wrestling, he tried to defend a takedown and at that time, he suffered a hyperextension on the right knee. He felt pain and he heard a crack inside his knee at that time. It was terrible to walk and there was not much swelling on the knee so he tried to continue training but in the few days after, he felt the pain and the instability was increasing so he called me, he was in Vegas and we did an MRI on Monday morning. I saw Georges yesterday with the results of the MRI and the physical exam that I did confirmed that Georges suffered a complete tear of his ACL and a small tear of his internal meniscus on the right knee, which is not the same knee that he suffered the sprained MCL in mid-October.”

“Considering the instability and the pain, surgery for Georges is mandatory. There’s no way he can compete with the problem on the right knee. We’re looking at doing an ACL reconstruction with meniscal repair. The technique that’s going to be used is the technique of anatomical ACL reconstruction, which is the best technique for this kind of injury…I’ve been the treating doctor for Georges for five years now and I did two surgeries on him already for elbow endoscopy. His recovery rate is completely off the charts. He has an amazing genetics and he has extraordinary physical capabilities and I know Georges has the discipline and the determination that’s gonna allow him to be back to the same level of competition that he was before the injury.”

Get well soon GSP, looking forward to seeing you back in the cage.

GSP undergoes surgery to repair his ACL

UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre underwent surgery earlier today to repair a knee injury that he suffered a few weeks ago.

According to MMAFighting.com, the surgery was conducted under Dr.Neal ElAttrache, one of the most renowned surgeons in sports medicine and a current team physician for Major League Bseball's Los Angeles Dodgers.

St-Pierre suffered the injury by overcompensating it during a wrestling training session a couple of weeks ago.

The champion, who had recently come off a minor injury to his left knee, felt pain in his right knee but attempted to continue.

The St. Isidore native continued his training camp with no swelling in his knee, but the pain only worsened.

St-Pierre underwent an MRI to reveal that he had a torn ACL in his right knee that will force him to withdraw from his upcoming title bout against Nick Diaz, scheduled for February 6th at UFC 143.

St-Pierre's personal physician, Dr. Sebastien Simard, explained during a recent teleconference that the surgery was mandatory and it would reconstruct the champion's ACL, as well as repair some damage to his meniscus.

Simard was optimistic that St-Pierre will return to the UFC in the future, but the injury should require him to be out of action for six to nine months depending on the rehabilitation process.

In the meantime, an interim welterweight title bout was scheduled due to St-Pierre's absence, and Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz will meet in the main event at UFC 143.

GSP out 6-9 months according to Doctor

In the height of Georges St. Pierre's devastating ACL injury, in which many have already ruled out the welterweight champ's return in 2012. His doctor has said that he would be out only 6-9 months for a full recovery. I know it is still quite a long time table and with training in addition to the healing time frame, it would be a while until we see GSP back in the Octagon. But, at least the wait isn't as long as many suspected.

In other news, UFC President Dana White believes that the welterweight champ will be back better than ever in spite of the injury. In a tweet, Dana White said that GSP takes good care of his world class physique and that such injuries happen even to the very best in any sport.

In the mean time Nick Diaz will face off against Carlos Condit for an interim welterweight championship at UFC 143 on February 4 in a bout of the two front runners for GSP's title.

They will will eventually meet the injured champion down the road.

UFC 143: Georges St-Pierre Injured: Nick Diaz & Carlos Condit for Interim Title

According to Dana White's Twitter, Georges St-Pierre has once again gone down with an injury, and he will be out for 10 months.

According to the tweet, GSP blew out his ACL, and Carlos Condit will now face Nick Diaz for the interim UFC welterweight title.

This just continues the jumble in the welterweight division recently, as there have been numerous switches as of late.

First it was to be GSP-Diaz. Then it was GSP-Condit.

Then that fight was scrapped due to a St-Pierre injury, and Condit decided to wait for a title shot, which he ended up losing his chance at.

Then GSP-Diaz was scheduled once again, which is now off due to a St-Pierre injury once more.

The Condit-Diaz winner will, in all likelihood, face off against St-Pierre when he is due back from injury.

Originally on this card, St-Pierre was going to fight Diaz for the welterweight title, and Condit was going to fight Josh Koscheck for a likely No. 1 contender position.

It is unclear if Koscheck will remain on the card.

Carlos Condit vs. Nick Diaz will go down at UFC 143 in Las Vegas on February 4th.

This is truly just to bad.

More updates on this as it develops.