Thiago Silva, Cannabis Metabolites, and UFC Suspensions

Thiago Silva is the latest UFC fighter to test positive for cannabis metabolites following his submission victory over Stanislav Nedkov at UFC on Fuel TV 6. The event took place on November 10, 2012 at the CotaiArena in Cotai Strip, Macau. The bout has now been ruled a no contest.

The UFC released this statement last Wednesday,

Thiago Silva tested positive for marijuana metabolites following his bout at UFC on FUEL TV in Macau. The UFC organization has a strict, consistent policy against the use of any illegal and/or performance-enhancing drugs, stimulants or masking agents. Silva has admitted to taking the banned substance and has agreed to participate in an approved drug-rehabilitation program and serve a six-month suspension retroactive to the November 10 event. He must pass a drug test upon completion of the suspension before receiving clearance to fight again.

Thiago Silva isn’t new to failing tests, mind you. After his bout at UFC 125 against Brandon Vera, analysis of Silva’s urine found it inconsistent with human urine. Silva released a statement admitting to injecting his injured back with a banned substance and using a masking agent to try and cover it up — no, he didn’t submit animal urine. The Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended Silva one year after UFC 125, while also changing his decision victory over Vera to a no contest. The NSAC hit Silva in the pocket book too, fining him 25% of his purse and $20,000 of his $55,000 win bonus.

When Thiago tested positive for cannabis metabolites last week, it didn’t mean that he was high during the fight. Finding cannabis metabolites in the system only indicates that the fighter used cannabis in the last month or so before the test. There’s a number of reasons a fighter would want to use cannabis, pain tolerance being one of the most common, but really it shouldn’t matter even if Thiago just wanted to get high.

The UFC doesn’t test fighters.

When the organization holds an event, typically in the United States, there’s an athletic commission that handles the testing. Most UFC events [and boxing for that matter] take place in Las Vegas where the biggest athletic commission in the country, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), is in charge of testing fighters. However the UFC has become a global brand, and more events are taking place in foreign countries that don’t have regulatory commissions. When this occurs the UFC has to hire and oversee a 3rd party testing company to conduct tests for them.

This is important because the last two fighters who tested positive for cannabis metabolites [Silva and UFC Heavyweight Dave Herman] did so outside the United States, where the UFC was in control of the testing. With the UFC in control of the testing, it was also their decision alone on whether to punish and or suspend fighters who tested positive. Weeks ago the UFC disciplined Herman with a six month suspension and forced him to complete a drug rehab program before returning to action; the same punishment Silva received. Neither was issued a financial penalty.

The UFC doesn’t care about weed. If they did, they wouldn’t have Joe Rogan, a huge proponent of cannabis and positive force in the cannabis community, as the main voice for their organization. But the UFC does care if people think their sport is legitimate or not. They’re not even sanctioned in every state because some people think it’s too violent, so imagine getting sanctioned when you have fighters smoking illegal drugs and getting away with it.

After Herman was suspended, current UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and former Executive Director for the NSAC, Mark Ratner, spoke on how the UFC’s cannabis policy is different than the athletic commission’s. “We feel very strongly that there’s a big difference between PED’s [performance-enhancing drugs] and marijuana. We think the commissions do a good job with PED’s, but we think with marijuana there should be some form of rehab involved, going through that kind of process and learning about it.”

The penalties aren’t severe.

They aren’t taking any money away from the fighters. Silva was awarded submission of the night which came with a $40,000 bonus, and there’s no indication that they retrieved any of that money either.

Six months isn’t a long time for a fighter to wait between fights either. It’s just the perfect amount of time to recover from your last fight, put yourself through a drug rehab program, and start training for your next fight. The UFC could schedule both Silva and Herman to fight within weeks of their suspensions expiring if they want to, so it’s not even likely that they’ll miss out on any upcoming fights.

And doesn’t it seem favorable that neither fighter was cut, even though both have failed drug tests before, and Herman has lost his last three fights?

By comparison, Nick Diaz received a one year suspension from the NSAC when cannabis metabolites were found his system. Diaz, a repeat offender, was also fined 30% of his purse after his loss to Carlos Condit.

The UFC gave Stephan Bonnar one year suspension as well when he tested positive for steroids after his fight with Anderson Silva. That fight took place at UFC 153, the same event where Herman tested positive.

The UFC did hand down a couple more suspensions to pot smokers, but they gave them as light a penalty as possible. Pretty soon they will stop testing for cannabis metabolites altogether, and so will the athletic commissions. The world is remembering how helpful the cannabis plant is, and sports organizations and athletic commissions are not immune to that.