Nate Diaz Vaping Case Cleared by Nevada, but Still an Issue
Nate Diaz‘s post-UFC 202 vaping has been cleared by the Nevada Athletic Commission, but the United States Anti-Doping Agency is still investigating. The incident occurred after Diaz lost to Conor McGregor on Aug. 20 in Las Vegas.
NAC executive director Bob Bennett on Thursday told MMAWeekly.com that Diaz will not face sanctions over his post-fight vaping at UFC 202. As an initial tweet by MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani said, however, he is still under the scrutiny of USADA, which has yet to issue a determination on whether or not he violated the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.
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“At this time, we are not pursuing the alleged incident,” Bennett told MMAWeekly.com. “Nevada State Athletic Commission in-competition testing ends upon an athlete providing us a urine sample at the conclusion of the athlete's fight.”
Diaz's vaping was after he provided a post-fight drug testing sample.
During his UFC 202 post-fight press conference , Diaz was toking on his vape pen, and when asked what he was vaping, he responded, “CBD oil. It helps with the healing process and inflammation, stuff like that.”
Although many CBD oils have little to no THC in them, the substance that is largely responsible for marijuana’s psychotropic effects, they are still classified as cannabinoids, which are banned substances during in-competition time periods for athletes under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.
Although Bennett said that Nevada's in-competition window had closed on Diaz after he submitted his post-fight drug testing sample, the UFC Anti-Doping Policy in-competition window was still wide open.
Although the World Anti-Doping Agency standard for in-competition is 12 hours before a competition and lasts through the completion of the competition and the collection period for a drug testing sample, the UFC Anti-Doping Policy defines in-competition as six hours before and six hours after the competition. That is likely why USADA is still considering the matter.
USADA has given no time frame for a decision on Diaz's case.
