Nate Diaz will fight at UFC 244 next Saturday as USADA has cleared the Stockton-native of a drug test which found elevated levels of a banned substance. Diaz tweeted about the adverse finding and that he would be out of the bout next week. But, Dana White said on Friday via twitter that the fight was on.
Diaz’s levels of Ligandrol, a banned substance known as LGD-4033 which stimulates muscle growth, was detected at a “double picogram/mL” level. The source of the substance was traced back to a legal supplement Diaz ingested, which was categorized as an organic, vegan, plant-based daily vitamin.
The lengthy statement from the UFC can be found via Ariel Helwani’s tweet below:
The UFC has just issued a lengthy statement about the Nate Diaz situation. In short, they have cleared him of any wrongdoing and he is good to compete next weekend. pic.twitter.com/cphdvKrRLC
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 26, 2019
The UFC emphasized that Diaz had not committed an anti-doping policy violation and has not been provisionally suspended and is not subject to any sanctions. Similar to what we hear from Jon Jones’ exoneration last year, the UFC stated that there was no “appreciable performance enhancing or therapeutic benefit from the significantly limited amount of LGD-4033 that may be present in his system…”
Diaz should be facing Masvidal next week in the main event of UFC 244.
Payout Perspective:
Clearly the news that Diaz may have had an adverse finding from a USADA test was an alarm to the UFC as it was anticipating a huge payday from its annual New York event. One has to infer that the expedited nature of these findings were done in order to save the main event and a fighter from having to serve the standard provisional suspension which occurs with an adverse finding. Many athletes have had their careers and livelihoods put on hold due to a contaminated supplement. Josh Barnett noted this on social media Friday night. While its great news that fans get to see Diaz fight, its also shows that there is a process for which USADA can determine these findings without having athletes being put on prolonged suspensions. Hopefully, the policy changes for the better soon.
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