The California State Athletic Commission denied Nick Diaz a license to fight Jay Hieron in the upcoming August 15 Strikeforce event. After failing to appear to a mandatory drug test, Diaz was forced off of the fight card and was immediately replaced by Jesse Taylor.
Diaz holds a medical marijuana license under the state’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996 and Medical Marijuana Program Act. He is allowed “compassionate use” according to the state law, but Diaz did not have enough time to flush the illegal substance from his system. Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, decided the best thing for Diaz was to miss this fight rather than to risk failing the drug test. If the test is not taken, Diaz misses this one particular fight. However, if he fails a drug test then he could be suspended for at least 1 year.
From Cesar Gracie:
“He fights every two months…It’s too bad for Jay Hieron, but what can you do? If you take the test, what’s going to happen? What’s going to happen is he’s gonna not get licensed in California for over a year and not fight this fight. If you don’t take this test, you don’t fight this fight, and you fight next month, because you have time to flush it out of your system.”
