Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz could have another few weeks to prepare their defenses.
Both Silva and Diaz have asked the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) for continuances in their drug cases, MMAFighting.com has learned. NAC executive director Bob Bennett confirmed that Silva’s hearing will not be until next month and Diaz’s agent Lloyd Pierson told MMAFighting.com that he is confident Diaz’s request for a continuance will also be granted by the end of the week.
Silva and Diaz were each slated to appear in front of the commission Monday in Las Vegas. Hector Lombard is still on the agenda for that day in his own drug case, according to Bennett.
Combate was the first to report he news of Silva’s continuance. No date has been set for the April meeting.
Diaz and Silva are both facing fines and suspensions after failing post-fight drug tests. Silva also failed a pre-fight, out-of-competition screening. Their UFC 183 on Jan. 31 in Las Vegas could also be overturned into a no contest. Silva won the bout via unanimous decision.
Silva, 39, tested positive for anabolic steroid metabolites in both tests. He had drostanolone and androstane in his system in the pre-fight test, but results did not come back until after UFC 183. Had they come back before, the fight would have been called off. Drostanolone was present in his post-fight test as well.
After the fight, Silva also tested positive for medications oxazepam and temazepan, drugs that are not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), but popped up because Silva did not conceal his use of them to the commission.
Diaz, 31, tested positive for marijuana in a post-fight screening. This is his third time failing a test for weed in Nevada. Diaz had to submit a clean drug test to get licensed to compete and only did so a few days before the fight with Silva. After the fight, Diaz was found to have double the 150ng marijuana allowance in his system.
Lombard, 37, defeated Burkman by unanimous decision at UFC 182 on Jan. 3 in Las Vegas. He was booked to fight Rory MacDonald at UFC 186 on March 25 in Montreal until the UFC found out that Lombard has tested positive for the steroid desoxymethyltestosterone in a post-fight test.