Gracie: “I think the public knows Nick[Diaz] smokes”
source | MMAFighting.com
“We do get them at the last second,” said NAC executive Bob Bennett to Marc Raimondi. “We’d prefer not to, because it creates problems. But don’t think we didn’t contact the promoters. We did contact the promoters. We said, ‘We need a clean bill of health from Nick or he isn’t fighting.'”
Coach Gracie said he is confused as to how Diaz passed a drug test before the fight, did not smoke after it and then failed the post-fight screening.
“What we think happened is the exertion of the fight affected the test and that’s why he tested positive,” said Gracie.
“It’s obvious once he provided us a negative one he started smoking again,” he said.
Gracie said he is not surprised and does not think it’s a big story.
“It’s not a shocker,” Gracie said. “His DNA is THC, let’s face it. No one is surprised by that. I’m disappointed by it. It’s just a distraction. It sucks. I don’t want any distractions. The guy is such a brilliant fighter. I’d rather be talking about how skilled he is.”
“He doesn’t take pain medications. When he’s in pain after a workout, he likes to smoke marijuana. It calms him down and relieves the pain in his body. It’s his way to naturally deal with pain and other problems.”
“I think the public knows Nick smokes marijuana. He obviously wasn’t stoned during the fight.”