MMA fighter Anderson Silva's bout against Nick Diaz at UFC 183 on January 31 is no longer a unanimous decision. It is now a no-contest following the suspension of Silva for one year because he failed several drug tests.
ESPN reports that the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) not only suspended the 40-year-old ex-UFC middleweight champion for 12 months, retroactive to January 31. It also fined him $380,000 and required Silva to submit a clean test to regain his license when he appeared on Tuesday before the commission for disciplinary hearing.
The fine is made up of Silva's $200,000 win bonus and 30 percent of the $600,000 fight purse, reports BloodyElbow.
Silva, who has a 33-6 record, insisted that he is innocent and explained his drug test results to contaminated sexual-performance enhancing drugs he got from a friend in Thailand. The medication was in an unmarked vial.
Silva tested on January 29 positive for drostanolone, an anabolic steroid, and a form of androstane. Two days later, during his fight against Diaz, the fighter from Brazil again tested positive for drostanolone and an anti-anxiety drug, a banned substance.
Michael Alonso, Silva's lawyer, argued the fighter should not be disciplined because the drostanolone came from the sexual-performance enhancer. However, he did not identify that substance that Silva took that resulted in failed drug test and did not show documentation of findings of contaminated substances.
Ed Soares, Silva's manager, gave him the anti-anxiety medication which the fighter took only the night before to help Silva sleep. Silva said he did not disclose the sexual-enhancing drug for privacy reasons.
However, NSAC Chairman Francisco Aguilar found inconsistencies in Silva's defense, like different dates on when he took the sexual-enhancing drugs. While Silva passed an unannounced blood and urine test given by the NSAC on January 19 and two tests on January 30, Aguilar said the negative test results have no bearing on the positive ones.
It is the first positive test in the long UFC career of Silva who returned after 13 months after recuperating from a broken left tibia and fibula he suffered during his fight against Chris Weidman at UFC 168 in December 2013.
However, Diaz also tested positive for marijuana metabolites over the allowable limit. He will also face the NSAC for a ruling at a later date.