Is the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) trying to, once again, go out of its jurisdiction in an attempt to punish another high-profile mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter?
According to Dr. Ross Goodman, Wanderlei Silva's lawyer, it sure is.
During today's (Aug. 21, 2014) hearing in Las Vegas, Nevada, Goodman argued that the commission had no right to punish Silva for not submitting to a drug test a few months back prior to his scheduled bout against Chael Sonnen, which was supposed to go down at UFC 175 on July 5, 2014.
Goodman wrote a motion addressed to Nevada Deputy Attorney General Christopher Eccles, which was then obtained by MMA Fighting.
Check it out:
"It is abundantly clear that the NSAC lacks jurisdiction to take disciplinary action over Mr. Silva, a non-licensee, for not submitting to testing that the NSAC had no authority to order. The NSAC tacitly recognizes their lack of jurisdiction to discipline Mr. Silva by removing any reference to licensee under the Jurisdiction section of the Complaint 1-4. A review of other Complaints for Disciplinary Action consistently relies on the unarmed combatants' status as a ‘licensee' as the jurisdictional basis for the NSAC's authority to seek discipline. Here, the NSAC cannot cure this jurisdictional defect by eliminating the phrase ‘licensee' and simply refer to Mr. Silva as an ‘unarmed combatant. Mr. Silva is not an unarmed combatant because he did not compete in UFC 175. ... The NSAC has never been vested with the authority to direct or order non-licensed persons to submit to a chemical test. Consequently, the NSAC lacks jurisdiction to seek disciplinary action against Mr. Silva, and any attempt to do so, clearly exceeds the NSAC's limited statutory jurisdiction."
According to the report, the NAC lacks jurisdiction to "proceed with any type of disciplinary action against Mr. Silva because he was not licensed" at the time of the random test, and that "only someone licensed before the NSAC can be found to have violated NAC 467.850 (1), (2) and (5), "which states that "a licensee who violates any provision of this section is subject to disciplinary action by the Commission."
If your wondering why Sonnen himself couldn't escape punishment from the NSAC, that's because "The American Gangster" was approved for a license to fight in the state of Nevada 10 days prior to being tested and subsequently busted.
In the end, Silva's hearing was postponed until further notice on the heels of the motion as well as "The Axe Murderer's" absence, which was due to prior commitments in Canada. And despite this admission, it seems Silva has once again managed to escape the wrath of the NSAC.
The only question is, for how long?