Diaz facing suspension after testing positive for weed

Published on Feb. 10 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.

By Brian Edwards

Nick Diaz is facing a suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission after testing positive for marijuana following his UFC 143 loss to Carlos Condit.

This isn’t the first time this has happened to the mercurial Diaz, who has a prescription for medical marijuana in the state of California. He tested positive after beating Takanori Gomi in a 2007 fight in the PRIDE organization, prompting the victory to be changed to a no-contest. There was also an issue in 2009 when he skipped pre-fight drug tests that got him taken off of a Strikeforce card.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, UFC President Dana White said he was ‘beyond disappointed’ in Diaz, who might have been given a rematch against Condit. That scenario is now out of the question at least for the near future, as is a much-anticipated showdown against Georges ‘Rush’ St. Pierre, who is recovering from a torn ACL and is expected to face Condit in November or December of this year.

Also on Friday, a pair of big fights were confirmed by Lorenzo Fertitta on twitter in a Q+A with fight fans. Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz will meet for a third time in a rubber match that could be the last career fight for both of these former light-heavyweight champions.

In the heavyweight division, a pair of former champions will meet when Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez collide at a to-be-determined venue. Mir has won three in a row to get back into the title picture, while Velasquez is coming off his first career loss to Junior dos Santos. The winner of this match will probably get a title shot against the winner of the fight between Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem.

Finally, Bookmaker.com has released a pair of numbers for the UFC on Fox 3 card at the Izod Center in the Meadowlands on May 5. Jim Miller is a minus-250 favorite vs. Nate Diaz, who is a plus-190 underdog (risk $100 to win $190). Pat Barry has been installed as a minus-245 ‘chalk’ vs. Lavar Johnson, who is +195 on the comeback.