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It is said that your life is measured by how many uncomfortable conversations you've had. But these conversations, before anything else, need to be necessary.
It seems like former Strikeforce Welterweight champion and current expert in crafting out legendary fights, Nick Diaz, has been consistently finding comfort amidst such uncomfortable situations.
Undoubtedly, the man has a big mouth on him which has got him in trouble before, but a five-year ban for testing positive for marijuana has to be the absolute worst punishment that could be laid on any athlete in any given sport.
A Nick Diaz fight is a thing of beauty, as he repeatedly calls his opponent a "bitch" and does not shy away from doing so for all five rounds if he has to. Trash talking and looking to gain the mental edge over his opponent are a huge part of his game.
As mentioned by Sun Tzu in his timeless "Art of War" and Miyamoto Musashi in the equally trippy and eye-opening "Book of Five Rings", strategy is not confined to the physical aspect of the game.
Just because a person is not sensitive to the mental aspect of the game does not mean that those tricks and gestures wouldn't work on him. Diaz is obviously one of the top trash talkers in the history of MMA and, as aptly put by Matt Serra, the funniest unintentional comedian on the face of the earth.
People's perception of Diaz may be wildly contrasting, but he never fails to make a strong first impression. That's because Diaz stands proud of his beliefs, especially regarding recreational marijuana use.
He has made it obvious in the past that he will not be compromising his values or alter what he truly believes, to entertain and flatter the bureaucrats who pretend to know what's really going on without any scientific basis to back up their cruel sentence. With a devastating five-year ban, you'd at least expect it to be on extremely rational and justifiable grounds.
For people who have actually followed Diaz's career from the get go, it becomes even more shocking to know that a lifetime ban was very much on the table before they changed their mind. And to top it off, more than a hundred thousand dollars of his earnings was levied as a fine.
It is even more astounding to see that the NSAC has somehow successfully convinced a significant portion of the population that they have "spared" Diaz by not slapping him with a lifetime ban.
To say that the NSAC has abused its power in tyrannical fashion would be an understatement.
Although MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world, it has still not been able to muster a proper fighter's union to negotiate for their services to the promotions. After all, the fighters are employees who need to have laws in place to protect them from promotions who wouldn't think twice before exploiting them.
But this incident proves that we are far from such a just work environment for the fighters.
This is a defeat for MMA and a huge step back for the sport, but it is a truly dark event because Diaz will be robbed of his passion to deliver not only entertaining but also technically spectacular fights. A Black Belt in Jiu-Jitsu under Cesar Gracie, Diaz's unbelievable endurance is no secret. He swims and competes in mixed martial arts professionally while participating in an average of 6 triathlons in a year.
From surprising the world by knocking out knockout artists like Robbie Lawler and Frank Shamrock and giving "Greatest of all time(s)" in their respective divisions Anderson Silva and GSP a run for their money, Diaz is a legend in his own right.
In retrospect, yes, it is a bummer than the super fight between Silva and Diaz was overturned to be a no-contest after the former tested positive for anabolic steroids. But in all honesty and with all due respect, Silva deserved much harsher treatment than Diaz.
If you could dispute that with logic and not meaningless hate against marijuana, then I would pay heed to your opinion. But any other argument than this, and I'll be convinced that you're a dummy who has bought into the trend that marijuana is an abomination; and as common dummy logic would entail, that it justifies a five-year ban.
Rules do not have justification by virtue of their own existence. Does it really make sense to penalize an athlete for five years, robbing him of the prime years of his life, for using a substance which is not even scientifically proved to be a legitimate PED? The mid-30s to 40s are like the dawn of a fighter's prime into the eventual eve that gracefully wears out the body.
Thanks to NSAC, Diaz will not be spending those years in the octagon.
As of now, all of this seems like a wild, unpredictable dream that I wish would just end in a split second. My mind has been befuddled that a mistake that would generally be considered trivial has turned out to have unbelievably life-altering repercussions.
Consider the cases of multiple offenders by steroid use, Vitor Belfort and Alistair "Overoid" Overeem. During both of their hearings, NSAC handed them relatively short suspension letters with such magnanimity as if they were going to ask for their autographs later. Silva's humiliating defense against his steroid use is nothing short of funny either.
It makes little to no sense (depending on your intelligence) to sentence an athlete to a five-year ban from mixed martial arts unless you consider the fact that NSAC had already decided Diaz's fate before he even set foot inside the courtroom. But how much of this wrath Diaz has brought on to himself is a question that people who side with him usually fail to acknowledge.
Diaz has been testing positive for marijuana ever since mammals started walking on two appendages. Some rules are meant to be broken, but it makes sense to break a rule and make a point once and for all. Breaking the same rule throughout his career, Diaz has only tainted his reputation in the aftermath, and nothing more.
The whole conundrum seems to be playing out just like a bad thriller. The punishment that NSAC has unleashed does not really sit well with me unless this happened: The officers in the NSAC are people who actually want to spread the word about decriminalizing weed (before you raise those eyebrows, bear with me), and hence made a huge scene about an athlete testing positive for marijuana so it could garner national attention and could be used as a landmark case for legalization throughout the country.
You can't even come up with an idea so outlandish without ripping that bong apart.
I know, I know. It has not even been a week since lightning struck. Fans are in mourning. But to tell the truth, there's nothing much a man can do. We may have very well witnessed the end of Nick Diaz's illustrious career, and there is no going back. Unless some unforeseen circumstance alters the course of Diaz's destiny forever, we can only hope for the best, but we had better be prepared for the worst.
Diaz's will not only be remembered as a pothead with a cult-like following, but also an outstanding all-round athlete who inspired a whole generation of MMA fighters around the world.
