UFC Light Heavyweight Thiago Silva waived his right to an attorney yesterday and decided to accept his fate after admitting to altering his post-UFC 125 drug test. The NSAC revoked his license for 12 months, took a percentage of his purse and rendered his fight with Brandon Vera a no contest.
MMA Junkie reports that the NSAC reduced its original punishment due to Silva’s “candor and honesty”. Silva admitted to using a “urine adulterant” when giving a sample to the NSAC officials. Apparently, owning up to his wrongdoing has granted him some leniency with the NSAC.
Via MMA Weekly:
Silva issued a statement through his camp at American Top Team explaining the situation, and apologizing for his misdeeds.
“We make decisions every day of our lives. Some are good and some are bad. When you make a bad decision, you can either make the situation worse by trying to cover it up or lie about it or just stick your head in the sand and refuse to acknowledge it even happened or you can own up to it with an honest explanation, accept the consequences of your actions, apologize to the people affected by it, learn from it and move on. I’m choosing the second option,” Silva wrote.
Via MMA Junkie:
NSAC commissioners originally recommended a fine of one-third of Silva’s “show” purse, as well as his entire win bonus, but citing the Brazilian’s “candor and honesty” eventually settled on 25-percent of his purse ($13,750) and $20,000 of the win bonus for a total fine of $33,750.
Silva dodged a bit of a bullet with his suspension, as NSAC executive director Keith Kizer recommended the 12-month suspension begin with Thursday’s hearing rather than the more traditional procedure of backdating the first day of the suspension to the date of the fight in question.
Kizer cited Silva’s reluctance to fess up to the charges until his “B” sample returned with the same findings as the first test. However, the commissioners instead elected to reward Silva for his belated admissions and chose to stick with the traditional routine. Silva is eligible to reapply for a license on Jan. 2, 2012, and he will have to provide a drug-free (and authentic) urine sample.
Despite a lackluster performance, the UFC reinstated Brandon Vera due to the questions concerning Silva’s drug test.
Payout Perspective:
Does it makes sense that he was docked only a percentage of his win bonus although the bout was changed to a no contest? Shouldn’t Silva have been stripped of the full win bonus?
Its interesting that the NSAC granted Silva some leniency even though he attempted to cheat the system and then did not admit to wrongdoing until it was apparent that he would be caught. Still, a year out of work and $33K plus in fines is a stiff penalty and serve as some sort of deterrent to those that would follow the same path as Silva. Obviously, this does not help with any of his sponsors. Will they be there when he comes back in 2012? Silva is a good fighter that did not need to cheat to win.
What this means for further drug tests is that the NSAC will have to be more intrusive in watching athletes as they submit the urine sample.
What no one seems to be mentioning in the press is that this really shows what a joke the CSAC is when it comes to disciplining fighters. When Thiago Silva publicly admits to his wrongdoing and shows remorse as well as the intent to rehabilitate, he gets fined $33,750 and is suspended for a year by the NSAC. On the other hand, when Chael Sonnen is caught, he lies through his teeth about it, gives ridiculous unsubstantiated explanations, and he is only fined $2,500 and his suspension is reduced to 6 months. I just really hope fighters don’t look at this and say “wow, if I tell the truth if I violate drug testing and disclosure policies, I’ll be much worse off than if I lie.”
The dichotomy of this situation just sets a horrible example for fighters, and reflects poorly on the CSAC. I have to believe that Sonnen would’ve been fined a full year and faced a much heftier fine had he been caught in Nevada. I mean, Kizer was even pushing for an extra 4 months due to Thiago’s delayed (post B-sample test) confession, imagine what he would’ve though had he presided over Sonnen’s “hearing” fiasco.
MV:
I agree. I definitely think the Sonnen hearing was a circus. It does set bad precedent for fighters looking to circumvent the rules because it tells them how to cheat and what can you do to get around a suspension/fine if caught.
The two situations are somewhat different. Despite how ridiculous it was, Sonnen had a theory behind his failed test whereas Silva hid fake urine in his pants. Nevertheless, it does show an inconsistency.