Trending News|April 13, 2015 01:40 EDT
UFC 2015 News: Anderson Silva & Nick Diaz Hearing Postponed Again
The monthly routine of postponing their hearing in front of the Nevada Athletic Commission carries on again as both Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz have been granted yet another continuance.
It's been close to six months since the MMA world was dropped a bombshell of one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in Silva testing positive for steroids after his bout at UFC 183 in Las Vegas against Diaz, who himself tested positive for marijuana.
As MMA Weekly reports, May will be the soonest that both will face the NAC to defend themselves against their failed drug tests since both have been excused from appearing before the commission's April 21 meeting. This is the second continuance that both fighters have been granted, originally scheduled to appear for their hearings in February.
The former UFC Middleweight champion failed two separate drug tests. The first time he tested positive for anabolic steroids was back in Jan. 9 in an out-of-competition test, before his Jan. 31 match. His results revealed traces of Drostanolone and Androstane.
After passing a second out-of-competition test on Jan. 19, he failed yet another test for Drostanolone, while also revealing traces of two benzodiazepine class drugs, which are commonly used to treat anxiety-related insomnia. The drugs were found in his fight-night test. As pointed out by MMA Weekly, before the failed tests, Silva has never tested positive for any banned substances in a career that spans close to 20 years.
Diaz, for his part, tested positive for marijuana metabolites in his fight-night drug test. He has tested positive for marijuana before.
In related news, Jorge Oliveira, who lost via a first-round submission against Christos Giagos at UFC Fight Night 62, tested positive for Stanozolol"”an anabolic steroid.
While his camp has denied any wrongdoing, he has been suspended until March 21, 2016.
"I was informed about it this morning, and we're all surprised, Oliveira's coach Marcio Cromado said. "We are waiting for more tests from the lab in Los Angeles to find out what happened. I asked Jorge and he told me he didn't take anything. We have a good doctor and he doesn't work with stuff like that. It's complicated."
The Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission earlier announced that all fighters that competed in UFC Fight Night 62 in Rio de Janeiro tested clean. The commission blames a "communication error" for not discovering Oliveira's failed test.