Tag: pat lundvall

Commissioner Who Reprimanded Nick Diaz & Conor McGregor Won’t Be Re-Appointed

Following two years where she had high-profile episodes with UFC stars Nick Diaz and Conor McGregor, Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) chair Pat Lundvall’s run with the NAC is coming to an end. She confirmed that she had been contacted by the governor’s office this Thursday and told she would not be re-appointed to MMA Fighting

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Following two years where she had high-profile episodes with UFC stars Nick Diaz and Conor McGregor, Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) chair Pat Lundvall’s run with the NAC is coming to an end.

She confirmed that she had been contacted by the governor’s office this Thursday and told she would not be re-appointed to MMA Fighting today. According to the report, Lundvall’s last day will be October 31. She informed her colleagues of the news in an email on Friday, issuing the following statement:

“I have served three terms for a total of nine years with the NAC. I considered every minute of it as a privilege and an honor.”

The inaugural woman to be elected chair of the NAC, Lundvall had served the commission for nine years dating back to her appointment by Governor Jim Gibbons. Yet Lundvall was known far more for her high-profile battles with Diaz and McGregor rather than any trailblazing she did in that regard, and it would be tough to imagine those episodes didn’t at least play a part in the decision to not re-appoint her.

Speculation aside, Lundvall’s hearing war with Diaz incited outrage throughout the entire MMA universe last year when she motioned for the outspoken Stockton slugger to be suspended for life after he repeatedly plead the Fifth Amendment in a hearing surrounding his third test failure for marijuana metabolites during his UFC 183 loss to Anderson Silva. Lundvall then motioned for Diaz to be suspended for five years, which was accepted by the commission.

Countless fans and Diaz’ legal team believed the commission had not given Diaz a fair decision regarding the testing, as one of the tests supposedly contains a very large numbers of marijuana metabolites while Diaz passed two other tests at a completely different laboratory. Interestingly enough, Diaz later settled on a year-and-a-half suspension, which expired in August.

Lundvall’s attention-grabbing time in the spotlight didn’t end there, however, as she once again attempted to bring down the hammer on featherweight champion Conor McGregor for his bottle and can-throwing melee at a pre-fight presser for his UFC 202 rematch against Nick’s brother Nate Diaz. Her first motion was to fine McGregor a lofty 10 percent of his record $3 million purse, a punishment that was reduced to a $75,000 fine and a public service announcement that will cost $75,000.

‘The Notorious’ certainly didn’t take to the sanctions kindly, wishing the NAC ‘good luck trying to get it’ from him and expressing a desire to not longer fight in Nevada. With McGregor one of the state’s biggest cash machines and Lundvall drawing negative pub from the media and fans, it may not be a surprise she wasn’t re-appointed.

The post Commissioner Who Reprimanded Nick Diaz & Conor McGregor Won’t Be Re-Appointed appeared first on LowKick MMA.

NSAC Head Keith Kizer Weighs in on King Mo’s Accusations of Racism


(Muhammed Lawal in happier times.)

Remember two days ago when Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal went before the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a hearing on his for a positive drug test, got asked if he understood and could read English, was suspended and fined and then went on twitter to call the commissioner who asked about his literacy a racist? Well, her boss seems to disagree with that assessment.

We wrote NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer to ask him if he felt Commissioner Pat Lundvall’s line of questioning was offensive, racially or otherwise, or if her questions represented standard procedure in Nevada’s ongoing quest to emphasize fighters taking personal responsibility. Kizer was direct and concise in his response:


(Muhammed Lawal in happier times.)

Remember two days ago when Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal went before the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a hearing on his for a positive drug test, got asked if he understood and could read English, was suspended and fined and then went on twitter to call the commissioner who asked about his literacy a racist? Well, her boss seems to disagree with that assessment.

We wrote NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer to ask him if he felt that Commissioner Pat Lundvall’s line of questioning was offensive, racially or otherwise, or if her questions represented standard procedure in Nevada’s ongoing quest to emphasize fighters taking personal responsibility. Kizer was direct and concise in his response:

“The questioning was foundational in nature, very common and quite appropriate,” Kizer wrote us back.

During Lawal’s hearing on Tuesday, the accuracy of his pre-fight questionnaire — which asks, among other things, about medications that a fighter may be taking as well as recent and ongoing injuries that he or she may have — was called into question. Discrepancies seemed to arise between what was put down on those forms (and who even filled the forms out) and Lawal’s subsequent claims. During questioning, Lundvall asked Lawal if he understood English, could read English, and a few other condescending questions.

Lawal has since said that he felt insulted for being asked that, considering that he had been speaking to the commission in English for some time at that point and attended college in these United States. The Southern-born wrestler said Lundvall’s line of questioning reminded him of discrimination from his past.

Listen to some audio of Lawal’s hearing below (you can fast forward to around the 6:50 mark to hear Lundvall ask Lawal about understanding English, owning a PC, having an email address and other deadpan gold). There isn’t any particular reason to believe that Commissioner Lundvall’s questioning of Lawal was racially motivated, but it was certainly a dressing-down.

What do you think, nation? Racism, race-baiting or simple misunderstanding among friends?

– Elias Cepeda