One of the reasons that I enjoy covering fight sports more than the ‘stick and ball’ sports is that the fighters themselves are such interesting people.  They also come from a wide variety of backgrounds and particularly in the case of MMA betting have all taken a unique path into the sport.  This isn’t the case in a lot of pro sports.  NFL players, for example, all come to pro football via a similar background.  They play football in high school, then college and then the best ones make the pros.  Some have an easier or more difficult time getting to the NFL, but their competitive backgrounds are similar.

That’s not the case with MMA fighters.  They represent a diverse spectrum of competitive disciplines, races, nationalities and professional backgrounds.  From Muay Thai kickboxers to Sambo champions to professional wrestlers, the top MMA fighters each enter the sport via a different path.  As the sport has grown in popularity, most have also become very shrewd self promoters looking to maximize their financial upside.  UFC betting postfight interviews often sound like NASCAR winners circle ‘hat dances’ as fighters thank a long list of sponsors and often get in a plug for their ‘after party’ at a local nightclub.

Nick Diaz, on the other hand, is a very unique quantity even among MMA fighters.  Right or wrong, he really doesn’t care about his ‘marketability’.  He’s got plenty of fans and always thanks his sponsors, but never really gives the impression that its a major concern of his.  Personally, there are few fighters in the sport I enjoy watching more than Nick Diaz.  He’s got a certain ‘old school’ appeal, a throwback to prize fighters of an earlier time that fought on both a practical and metaphorical level as a means of survival.

In yesterday’s post about Saturday’s Strikeforce event headlined with Diaz vs. Marius Zaromskis, a comment suggested that I was wrong to focus on marijuana use as much as I did.  In Diaz’s case, however, he is never hesitant to make it a central focus of his career.  It’s an essential part of his personality, something he confirmed in a High Times article entitled “Nick Diaz says marijuana use is part of his plan“:

“I’m more consistent about everything being a cannabis user,” Diaz said in an interview with The Times last week. “I’m happy to get loaded, hear some good music . . . I remain consistent. And I have an easy way to deal with [the drug tests].

“I can pass a drug test in eight days with herbal cleansers. I drink 10 pounds of water and sweat out 10 pounds of water every day. I’ll be fine.”

Not exactly the words of something looking to downplay his marijuana use.  On a philosophical level, I could care less if Diaz smokes pot 24/7 between his fights.  What’s really intriguing about Diaz is that he’s a walking refutation of all of the supposed downsides of marijuana use–he’s anything but a cliche mellow, sedentary bud smoker.  He trains like a maniac, has insane technical skills both in boxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and  fights like a crazed weasel in the ring or cage.  You never get the feeling that Diaz is turning in a half assed effort.  He’s really everything you want from a fighter–a tough, highly skilled dude with a competitive chip on his shoulder that never fails to ‘bring it’.

On a more practical level, however, I do have some concern for the impact of his pot smoking on his career.  I’ll say at the outset that I agree that there’s a good deal of hypocrisy in the fact that fighters can booze it up with impunity between fights with no repercussions but Diaz can’t unwind with a joint.  Nevertheless, that’s the reality of the sport.  Most state athletic commissions prohibit its use and test for its presence.  From the High Times article above, consider the stance of Nevada State Athletic Commission head Dr. Keith Kizer:

“The drug is banned because of the damage it does to the person taking it,” said Keith Kizer, Nevada State Athletic Commission executive officer. “It could make you lethargic, slow your reflexes, and those are dangerous things in a combat sport.”

That is the conventional wisdom regarding marijuana use, but Diaz has never evidenced any ‘lethargy’ or slowed reflexes.  A debate on the pharmacological effects of pot smoking is beyond the purview of this post, but could it be that this stance is based on outmoded thinking and ‘conventional wisdom’ more than actual research?

Nevertheless, under the status quo of fight sport regulatory oversight the result has been that Diaz has become somewhat marginalized in the sport.  It’s reached the point where he has to pick and choose his fights based on the state in which they take place and that’s not a good thing for a fighter who has the skills to be among the best in the sport.  Regardless of what your personal stance on marijuana may be, its hard to debate the reality that the attitude toward its use in fight sports isn’t going to change anytime soon.

Of course Diaz will do things “his way” as he always has.  And ultimately its his life and career and he’s got every right to do that.  While this is something that we all have the right to and I support him in theory, as a fan there’s a certain amount of regret that this may keep him from reaching his full potential as a fighter.  He’s got a chilly relationship with the UFC, partially due to his candor about his pot smoking and partially due to their insistence on micromanaging their fighters.   He’s generally been supported by Strikeforce boss Scott Coker and formerly by EliteXC head Gary Shaw.  Still, to a certain extent its obvious that to fight the best competition he would need to ‘play the game’ of the fight sport oversight hierarchy to some extent.

That’s something he won’t do and as a fan I can only hope that it doesn’t serve to limit his otherwise limitless potential.