While various questions still remain in regards to Nate Marquardt’s bizarre failed medical test situation, PSAC executive director Gregory Sirb told MMA Fighting that Marquardt did not fail a drug test.
Additionally, Sirb indicated that Marquardt was actually licensed to fight in the main event of UFC on Versus 4.
“He was licensed. He completed all of his paperwork for licensing probably a week before,” Sirb clarified.
Unfortunately for Nate “The Great,” licensing in any state comes pending with a passed set of medical tests.
As fans, fighters, and analysts alike anxiously await for the former middleweight contender to address the situation on Ariel Helwani’s “The MMA Hour,” Sirb explained:
“I’ve been here 22 years and we do not embarrass anybody,” Sirb said. “But we would have said, ‘drug test,’” indicating that Marquardt was not in violation of any banned substance policy.
This makes the situation even more puzzling, as UFC President Dana White fired Marquardt almost immediately after he was not cleared to take on Rick Story at UFC Live.
Sirb also wanted to bring light to the fact that “He knew full well what the ramifications were, whether licensed or not.”
After exploring the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission website, MMA Fighting concluded that:
While in the course of applying for a license, a professional fighter must provide a negative HIV, Hepatitis C, and Hepatitis B surface antigen exam. The must also provide the results of an annual medical exam.”
The medical exam looks to discover any medical problems pertaining to “vision, lungs, heart rate, the nervous system, coordination, and more that could disqualify a fighter from competition.”
Pennsylvania state law (the federal HIPPA laws to be exact) considers the results of these tests the private medical information of the fighter.
However, those same laws do not “prohibit the disclosure of a positive drug test result, nor the type of drug which led to a confirmed positive test.”
Marquardt’s statement will no doubt answer some questions, but will he choose to answer them all?
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