UFC welterweight Nick Diaz tests positive for marijuana again

Diaz, 27, lost a highly controversial decision to Carlos Condit for the interim welterweight championship at UFC 143 in Las Vegas, which snapped the Stockton, Calif., native's 11-bout win streak.

The NSAC has filed a petition for disciplinary action against Diaz at a forthcoming commission meeting, where he will be temporarily suspended pending a hearing. Diaz will have the option to appear before the commission at the hearing to address the board before it hands down a suspension.

NSAC executive director Keith Kizer said Diaz had passed a pre-fight drug test prior to his re-licensure for a bout against B.J. Penn at UFC 137 on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas.

Cesar Gracie, Diaz's longtime coach and manager, declined comment on Thursday.

On Tuesday, UFC president Dana White announced that Diaz and Condit had agreed to a rematch to take place while UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre continued rehabilitation from knee surgery through the summer. However, by Wednesday, word circulated that the rematch had been scrapped in anticipation of the NSAC's findings.

In 2007, Diaz was suspended by the NSAC for marijuana use following his second-round submission victory over former Pride lightweight champion Takanori Gomi at Pride 33 in Las Vegas. Diaz was suspended for six months, fined 20 percent of his purse ($3,000) and the bout's outcome was changed to a "no contest."

Diaz, who's publicly disclosed his marijuana use in the past, also failed to meet officials to take a pre-fight test required by the California State Athletic Commission for licensure before a proposed contest against Joe Riggs for Strikeforce in August 2009.

Gracie stated that former CSAC executive officer Armando Garcia had previously agreed that Diaz would only be drug-tested the night of his bouts, as Diaz had a legal medical prescription for marijuana to treat a hyperactivity disorder. However, with Garcia's departure from the state agency earlier that year, the current staff ruled Garcia's policies with Diaz "null and void."

A former Strikeforce welterweight champion, Diaz was re-signed to the UFC last fall after UFC parent company Zuffa LLC purchased the rival promotion on March 11, 2011.

"I am beyond disappointed that he tested positive for marijuana," White said in a statement Thursday night. "It is now in the hands of the Nevada State Athletic Commission."