Morning Report: NSAC Calls Nick Diaz a Liar, Brendan Schaub Hunts for Ghosts

Nick Diaz may be in the midst of the most bizarre five-month stretch in MMA history. Let’s recap.
Diaz destroys B.J. Penn’s face so hard, Penn retires. Diaz then enrages Georges St. Pierre so badly, Georges demands Diaz take Ca…

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Nick Diaz may be in the midst of the most bizarre five-month stretch in MMA history. Let’s recap.

Diaz destroys B.J. Penn’s face so hard, Penn retires. Diaz then enrages Georges St. Pierre so badly, Georges demands Diaz take Carlos Condit’s title shot at UFC 143. Impressive stuff so far.

Diaz gets his fight, Carlos is sad, but one Canadian knee eruption later, he’s back in the game. Both men hype the match as a “dogfight,” but Condit works a counter-heavy gameplan into a divisive decision victory. An incredulous Diaz promptly retires.

After days of public fervor, Condit’s camp asks to run it back. Only problem, Diaz sure does love his weed. Weeks go by and the story fades out until the Diaz camp unexpectedly lawyers up, claiming Diaz didn’t technically break any of the NSAC’s rules. And now we’re here, with the NSAC calling Diaz a liar, and the story is very, very far from over.

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5 MUST-READ STORIES

NSAC claims Nick Diaz violated the law on UFC 143 pre-fight questionnaire. Nevada State Athletic Commission representative Jennifer M. Lopez revealed that Nick Diaz “lied” to the commission by swearing he had not taken any prescribed medications two weeks out from UFC 143.

Bellator 61 dissection. Dallas Winston is back with another gif-tastic breakdown of Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos and Bellator’s middleweight quarterfinals.

Mark Hunt vs. Stefan Struve confirmed for UFC 146. The addition of Mark Hunt vs. Stefan Struve completes UFC 146’s all-heavyweight main card, slated for Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas.

Cesar Gracie says Pettis or Penn may challenge Melendez next. Zuffa is struggling to find viable opponents for Gilbert Melendez, so Cesar Gracie threw down the gauntlet for a pair of surprising names.

Demian Maia moving down to welterweight. Maia announced his impending drop from 185 pounds to 170 on Wednesday morning. An opponent or timetable for his welterweight debut has yet to be decided.

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COUNTDOWN TO A SLIMMER ROY NELSON

Started (on March 4th): 32,000 likes.
Yesterday’s mark: 101,780 likes.
As of this writing: 102,094 likes.
Goal (by March 18th): 132,000 likes.

Roy, you may not have technically lost this bet, but over 70,000 people wanted to see you cut down to 205. That has to count for something, right?

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MEDIA STEW

Brendan Schaub got his ghostbuster on as the Ghost Adventures crew investigated the gnarly tale of Denver’s Peabody-Whitehead Mansion. (HT: MMA Mania)

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Ryan Hall, in case you don’t know, is one of the most successful American-born BJJ players we have today. Abu Dhabi medalist. Absurd win totals. Books, instructional DVDs, the works. So anyway, Hall’s just sitting in this restaurant with his friends, enjoying himself a sandwich, and this drunk guy shuffles up asking for a lighter. No one has one, so drunk guy gets upset. Like, very upset. Then he decides it’s time to throw down. And that, my friends, was a poor decision.

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War Machine is back in jail for another year, even if the circumstances are slightly more dubious than they were last time. So tonight, Spike TV’s MMA Uncensored is set to chronicle the fighter’s final 48 hours before he headed back to the slammer. Check out the sneak preview below.

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Chris Tickle needed just 24 seconds to KO Austin Lyons and pave his way into the TUF 15 house. But the quick finish wasn’t exactly a fluke. Check out Trickle (white & black shorts) taking on Dave Cochran in a fight that features not only an automatic nutshot, but also a pretty damn impressive knockout.

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MIESHA TATE’S ARM IS FINE AND SHE’LL PROVE IT TO YOU

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ANTHONY PETTIS LAUGHS AT YOUR RUMORS

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PITY THE DRUNK GUY THAT ASKS THEM FOR A LIGHTER

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announced yesterday (Wednesday, March 14, 2012):

– UFC 146: Mark Hunt (8-7) vs. Stefan Struve (23-5)

– UFC 146: Mike Brown (25-8) vs. Daniel Pineda (17-7)

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FANPOST OF THE DAY

Today’s Fanpost of the Day goes to BE’s hobbie: Setting it Straight: “Rampage’s” Case Against the UFC

So for your benefit folks, I’ve compiled a list of Quinton’s grievances with the UFC. I know a lot of folks have expressed displeasure, disagreement or most commonly, confusion at some of Quinton’s remarks. I’ll admit, that was my first reaction as well.

Then I stayed up all night fasting and pounding Red Bulls, and the picture suddenly became a whole lot clearer. Also, I now like house music for some reason. So without further ado, here’s Rampage’s case against the UFC, as best as I can fathom it.

1) “Why are you giving me wrestlers that are gonna take me down and hump me?”

This is Quinton’s latest complaint, and it makes perfect sense coming from him. He’s a devout Christian, “God’s Street Soldier” (yes, God has “Street Soldiers” – Zeus showed you can have all the fancy artillery and air support you want, but without boots on the ground, your religion’s going the way of lawnmower worship) and thus has no inclination to get “humped” by another man.

But more then that, Jackson is angry with UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, for making “Rampage” fight all these lay and prayers! The fans want to see a fight, damnit! And besides, in a division featuring Jon Jones, Rashad Evans, Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, Dan Henderson, a Karate guy with solid wrestling of his own and “Shogun” freakin’ Rua, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a non-wrestler for ol’ Quinton!

Oh, he’s facing “Shogun” next? Splendid. That leads us right into grievance number two:

Found something perfect for the Morning Report? Just hit us on Twitter @shaunalshatti and we’ll include it in tomorrow’s post.