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Nick Diaz’s camp is alleging improprieties surrounding the UFC 158 weigh-in and drug testing.
The California welterweight lost a five-round decision to champion Georges St-Pierre on March 16 at Montreal’s Bell Centre.
Since then, a video shot backstage at the weigh-in has raised questions about the Quebec athletic commission (Regie des Alcools des Courses et des Jeux), showing that it treats 170.9 pounds the same as 170.
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MMA Georges St-Pierre dominates Nick Diaz en route to lopsided win at UFC 158
Diaz was announced at 169 pounds at the weigh-in while St-Pierre was 170 — the welterweight limit.
The Diaz camp suggests the champion’s exact weight may never be known.
“In the circumstances, Mr. St-Pierre remains legally and ethically obligated to fight Mr. Diaz at 170 pounds or else vacate the belt in favour of those prepared to fight at welterweight,” Jonathan Tweedale, a Vancouver lawyer for the Diaz camp, said in a statement.
Traditionally fighters are given an extra pound at weigh-ins. So a welterweight can weigh in at 171 pounds, one above the limit. But that extra pound is not allowed in the case of championship bouts.
If fighters do not make weight, they are given an extra hour to do so. If they fail, the fight can go ahead but the overweight fighter owes his opponent 20 per cent of his purse.
In the UFC 158 backstage video, UFC vice-president Michael Mersch tells the Diaz camp what he has heard from the commission.
“Here, they’re going to allow you and Georges to have an extra hour (top make weight),” Mersch says. “Just in case somebody doesn’t make it.
“But the good news is, they don’t count the decimal. If you’re 170.2 it’s 170. If it’s 170.9 it’s 170.”
Mersch calls it “kind of an off-the-record type of thing.”
“As long as he’s under 171 (pounds), we should be good,” he added.
A member of the Diaz camp then says: “That’s a loophole a A Canadian loophole.”
“The contracted weight for this fight was 170 pounds. 170.9 is not 170, anywhere in the world, for a title fight,” the Diaz camp statement says. “There is no question what ‘170 pounds’ means, in the bout agreement, as a matter of contractual interpretation.
“The Quebec Commission deliberately relaxed the rule in this case and, by its own admission, allowed their home-town fighter to ’make weight’ even if he weighed more than the contracted weight.”
The Quebec commission confirms that it does not take decimals into account in weigh-ins, but says that rule has been in place for some time and was not there to help St-Pierre.
“I wish to inform you that, during UFC 158, no contestants exceeded the weight determined in their contracts,” Quebec commission spokewoman said in an email to MMAFighting.com.
“Currently, the Regie does take into consideration the maximum weight determined by contract when it carries out the weight-ins before a bout. However, our regulation on combat sports does not take decimals into account. Their consideration is a question of interpretation likely to be debated between the two parties under contract.”
Tweedale says his complaint is about the Quebec commission’s behaviour and not the UFC.
UFC vice-president Marc Ratner was not at the Montreal fight but said in an email that “my understanding was that both fighters weighed 170 or less” at UFC 158.
St-Pierre has proved to be a popular target.
Former champion B.J. Penn alleged the Canadian had illegally greased his body prior to their UFC 84 encounter.
The “Greasegate” allegations were never proved, although rules tightening who could apply Vaseline to fighters were tightened in the wake of the complaint.
As for the drug-testing complaint, the Diaz camp said no one observed their fighter provide a sample — suggesting the champion was also unsupervised.
Diaz, unlike St-Pierre, has flunked drug tests before. He has twice been suspended for testing positive for marijuana — something he says he uses medicinally to control social anxiety issues.
The California welterweight lost a five-round decision to champion Georges St-Pierre on March 16 at Montreal’s Bell Centre.
Since then, a video shot backstage at the weigh-in has raised questions about the Quebec athletic commission (Regie des Alcools des Courses et des Jeux), showing that it treats 170.9 pounds the same as 170.
MORE RELATED TO THIS STORY
MMA Georges St-Pierre dominates Nick Diaz en route to lopsided win at UFC 158
Diaz was announced at 169 pounds at the weigh-in while St-Pierre was 170 — the welterweight limit.
The Diaz camp suggests the champion’s exact weight may never be known.
“In the circumstances, Mr. St-Pierre remains legally and ethically obligated to fight Mr. Diaz at 170 pounds or else vacate the belt in favour of those prepared to fight at welterweight,” Jonathan Tweedale, a Vancouver lawyer for the Diaz camp, said in a statement.
Traditionally fighters are given an extra pound at weigh-ins. So a welterweight can weigh in at 171 pounds, one above the limit. But that extra pound is not allowed in the case of championship bouts.
If fighters do not make weight, they are given an extra hour to do so. If they fail, the fight can go ahead but the overweight fighter owes his opponent 20 per cent of his purse.
In the UFC 158 backstage video, UFC vice-president Michael Mersch tells the Diaz camp what he has heard from the commission.
“Here, they’re going to allow you and Georges to have an extra hour (top make weight),” Mersch says. “Just in case somebody doesn’t make it.
“But the good news is, they don’t count the decimal. If you’re 170.2 it’s 170. If it’s 170.9 it’s 170.”
Mersch calls it “kind of an off-the-record type of thing.”
“As long as he’s under 171 (pounds), we should be good,” he added.
A member of the Diaz camp then says: “That’s a loophole a A Canadian loophole.”
“The contracted weight for this fight was 170 pounds. 170.9 is not 170, anywhere in the world, for a title fight,” the Diaz camp statement says. “There is no question what ‘170 pounds’ means, in the bout agreement, as a matter of contractual interpretation.
“The Quebec Commission deliberately relaxed the rule in this case and, by its own admission, allowed their home-town fighter to ’make weight’ even if he weighed more than the contracted weight.”
The Quebec commission confirms that it does not take decimals into account in weigh-ins, but says that rule has been in place for some time and was not there to help St-Pierre.
“I wish to inform you that, during UFC 158, no contestants exceeded the weight determined in their contracts,” Quebec commission spokewoman said in an email to MMAFighting.com.
“Currently, the Regie does take into consideration the maximum weight determined by contract when it carries out the weight-ins before a bout. However, our regulation on combat sports does not take decimals into account. Their consideration is a question of interpretation likely to be debated between the two parties under contract.”
Tweedale says his complaint is about the Quebec commission’s behaviour and not the UFC.
UFC vice-president Marc Ratner was not at the Montreal fight but said in an email that “my understanding was that both fighters weighed 170 or less” at UFC 158.
St-Pierre has proved to be a popular target.
Former champion B.J. Penn alleged the Canadian had illegally greased his body prior to their UFC 84 encounter.
The “Greasegate” allegations were never proved, although rules tightening who could apply Vaseline to fighters were tightened in the wake of the complaint.
As for the drug-testing complaint, the Diaz camp said no one observed their fighter provide a sample — suggesting the champion was also unsupervised.
Diaz, unlike St-Pierre, has flunked drug tests before. He has twice been suspended for testing positive for marijuana — something he says he uses medicinally to control social anxiety issues.
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