UFC will go to great lengths to protect its interests.
Sometimes that requires a loophole, other times it calls for an exemption. Either way, the show must go on, assuming all parties involved have agreed to stick to the script. That doesn’t appear to be the case for Nate Diaz, who ran afoul of USADA after testing positive for banned substances back in late 2019.
Diaz was promptly cleared of any wrongdoing and permitted to compete at UFC 244.
But retired UFC lightweight Josh “The Punk” Thomson, who scored a knockout win over Diaz at UFC on FOX 7 more than a decade ago, accused the promotion of mismanaging the situation behind the scenes. In fact, “The Punk” claims Diaz was offered money to keep his trap shut while decision makers found a way to sweep it under the carpet.
“Look what they were trying to do with Nate Diaz,” Thomson said on his “Weighing In” podcast with referee John McCarthy (transcribed by MMA News). “He tested positive, and they were like, ‘You know what, we’ll get it all sorted out after.’ And Nate said, ‘F*** you, we’ll get it sorted out now.’ That means they knew that Nate tested, and they were still gonna let him fight. So I would not say that they have not tried to do that, or would not do it.”
The partnership between UFC and USADA, founded in summer 2015, was back in the news earlier this week after former UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt was defeated in court. “The Super Samoan” filed suit against the promotion, as well as former opponent Brock Lesnar, after USADA granted Lesnar a special exemption to compete without undergoing the mandatory six-month drug-testing period for inactive or returning combatants.
Lesnar went on to defeat Hunt at UFC 200, then flunked his corresponding drug tests.
“When I’m looking at [Lesnar], I mean I’m just thinking to myself that this was early in USADA,” Thomson continued. “I don’t know. I don’t wanna say that they knew, but I wanna say that the history — which I can only give you that case — is that they tried to have Nate still fight, and ‘We’ll deal with it after.’ I know people in Nate’s camp that said they even tried to offer money. They tried to like, ‘We’ll take care of it all afterwards, no big deal. It’s probably just a misunderstanding.’”
This is not the first time UFC has been accused of keeping secrets.
Vitor Belfort blew up his drug test back in late 2012, prompting a hastily-issued therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). Further muddying the waters was the fact that UFC was handing out the exemption, not the Ontario Athletic Commission, ahead of the Brazilian’s title fight at UFC 152.
In addition, Belfort’s opponent, Jon Jones, was not informed of the changes.
UFC has long denied doing anything shady and points to its recently-renewed relationship with USADA as evidence of its commitment to clean competition. The scuttlebutt behind Conor McGregor’s comeback, however, has once again put UFC and USADA under the microscope, for better or worse.
Diaz has yet to comment on Thomson’s allegations.