Should marijuana no contests be overturned?
No. Just because the USADA changed it’s policy on marijuana doesn’t mean all previous violations should be reversed. If you missed it, MMA Junkie reported that USADA has reversed their position on the prohibition of weed and now is not a prohibited substance. Upon the announcement, there were celebrations and there were cries for having past no contests overturned, specifically Nick Diaz’s loss to Anderson Silva turned to No Contest for Diaz’s positive test. But, the overturning of that leads to a slippery slope that goes nowhere good.
The changing of history is the issue here. Should you go back in time and change every loss or no contest changed because of marijuana, the history of divisions change. This person should have been next in line to get a title shot or number one contender spot, and all that jazz. You can create any scenario that fits in your head. While, yes, a title shot would have likely been granted, or at the very least an upward trajectory continued on a fighter’s career, you can’t go back and change the other fights.
While it would be cool for some fighters to get those losses back, they will not reap any of the benefits deserved from winning said fight. They will still be punished. No matter what Nick Diaz does, he will never get the years of suspension back.
Marijuana Was Illegal
This is the catch. While the thought behind having marijuana holds no substance as a performance enhancing drug, it was still against the rules and that was clear as day. Fighters who got caught knew without a doubt that while in competition as defined by USADA, marijuana was not allowed. It was a blatant breaking of the rules and the fighters knew the risks.
I agree that the rule is stupid. MMA is full of silly and dumb rules, like the 12-6 elbow. Any time someone wants to discredit Jon Jones, they always bring up the Hamill fight where he was disqualified due to the illegal strikes. We all just roll our eyes and move on (except Dana White, who brings it up all the time and says he wants it removed from Jones record).
Then there’s the slippery slope of reverting everything. You could make an argument that if you go back and change history on all marijuana failures, you can make the same argument for, say TRT. Vitor Belfort will have to have nearly his entire early career changed to no contests or losses. It doesn’t make sense.
It would be like looking at early baskeball games before the 3 point line was invented. Do you go back in time and add a point to everyone’s stats who made a shot from more than 23 feet 9 inches out? Not at all. History happened and there is no point in changing it now. What about from 1994-97 when the NBA moved in the three point line to 22 feet making the shot easier? Should you go back and take away points to those players because the rules were different and now the 3 point line is back to 23′ 9″ at the tip? The NBA hasn’t given those points to the players from 94 to 97.
You cannot go back and change history. No matter how bad you want it, changing the history in sports does more harm than it does good. It also opens the door for more harm to be done as well. Thanks for reading!
Check out and subscribe the podcast! On the latest episode, Gary Friel joined the show to talk Holloway-Kattar and more!
