Nate Diaz started a serious discussion of cannabis use in the UCF last year following a bout with Connor McGregor at UCF 202. Shortly after his decision loss to McGregor, Diaz was speaking with the media and openly puffed from what appeared to be a vape pen. When asked by reporters what was in his vaporizer, he responded cannabinoid oil, explaining it “helps with the healing process and inflammation, stuff like that. So you want to get these for before and after the fights, training. It’ll make your life a better place.”
The incident earned Diaz a slap on the wrist from the USADA, the UFC’s anti-doping partner. It also earned Diaz some lucrative opportunities, as he discussed with Ariel Helwani on a special edition of The MMA Hour this past Wednesday.
“It don’t matter,” Diaz said. “I banked out in the cannabis industry from it. … It was a good move and it was organic.”
CBD, as you probably know, is still cannabis. Though it doesn’t contain any of the psychoactive elements of THC, CBD is from the cannabis plant. The USADA prohibits anything with cannabidiol metabolites in competition. At the time, that competition window extended for six hour after the fight. Diaz was speaking with media just two hours after the fight, but thought the competition window ended after he submitted to a post-fight drug test sample collection.
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Starting April 1, that has in fact changed. The USADA now qualifies the competition window to that post-fight sample collection, which, if not done within a reasonable time, ends one hour after the competition. It stands to reason Diaz’s case was a major influencer on the recent change, which isn’t lost on the fighter.
“Yeah, they changed it,” Diaz said. “Compliments of your boy here. … Now we could do our thing. I’ve been a game changer. We just ain’t get no credit for it.”
Now Nate Diaz and his brother Nick have been open cannabis users for years. Here’s a video of them smoking a $2,000 UFC-shaped glove blunt. Nick Diaz was suspended for five years by the Nevada commission for his cannabis usage, though it was later reduced to just 18 months. The brothers also spent 420 smoking with Wu Tang Clan.
Even though Nate Diaz hasn’t fought since August, he claims that he’s still been making money. And that money seems to be coming from the cannabis industry.
“They tried to give me the cold shoulder and hide me out and let me die off,” Diaz said, referencing the UFC. “But it’s all good because I’m not gonna die off. I’m still right here in the game. I’m still training harder than anybody. I still got people calling. The fuckin’ cannabis industry is fucking blowing money out of their mind over here.”
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