Nevada Athletic Commission

The Nevada Athletic Commission (popularly known as the Nevada State Athletic Commission or NSAC) regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of Nevada, including licensure and supervision of promoters, boxers, kickboxers, mixed martial arts fighters, seconds, ring officials, managers, and matchmakers. The commission is the final authority on licensing matters, having the ability to approve, deny, revoke, or suspend all licenses for unarmed combat.

The NSAC has several times been criticized for its conduct and sentences, and has several times been labelled a "kangaroo court".

The commission, which is an agency of the Nevada Department of Business & Industry, is made up of five part-time members, each of whom is appointed by the Governor for a three-year term. The chairman is selected annually by the commission members. The current chairman is Anthony Marnell III. The other members are Francisco Aguilar, Skip Avansino, Dr. J. Daniel Carpenter, and Michon Martin.

The commission appoints an executive director to conduct the day-to-day operations of the commission. The executive director does not have a vote on actions taken by the commission. The executive director is Bob Bennett. In addition to the executive director, the commission has a staff of six full-time employees. The office of the Attorney General serves as legal counsel to the commission.

The responsibilities of the commission include ruling in disciplinary cases and arbitrating disputes between combatants and managers brought pursuant to Nevada Administrative Code § 467.102(4). Additionally, the commission is charged with the responsibility of promulgating regulations to implement and enforce the state laws governing unarmed combat.

For all main event championship bouts and special events, the commission must assign the referee, judges and doctors to work the contest. In all other contest or exhibitions, the executive director is responsible for assigning the referee, judges and doctors, ensuring that a contestant is not on suspension status in Nevada or another jurisdiction, approving each bout and determining that a contestant is not being mismatched with a superior opponent, issuing licenses and collecting fees from the sale of tickets.

On September 14, 2015, UFC Fighter Nick Diaz was suspended for 5 years and fined $165,000. The commission relied on a single positive cannabinoid urinalysis result, out of three tests taken within a few hours of each other. Of the tests, the two returning negative results were the only two conducted by a WADA approved lab. Diaz, a medical marijuana patient, has since received widespread support from the MMA community; fans and fighters alike. The vast majority of reactions have condemned the commission, looking at a number of factors including: the drug-testing process, the ignoring of the evidence by the commission and the overly harsh, arguably personally motivated punishment levied. Nick Diaz and his lawyers plan to appeal the decision via Judicial Review.

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Wikipedia