Re-Hearing of Wanderlei Silva's Lifetime Ban Delayed Again
Wanderlei Silva‘s disciplinary case with the state of Nevada, which was ordered by a Nevada District Court for re-hearing, was delayed again at Monday's Nevada Athletic Commission meeting. It was the second time since the court's order that Silva's case was pushed back to another meeting.
In September of 2014, the Nevada Athletic Commission banned Silva for life and fined him $70,000 for evading a random drug test in relation to his proposed UFC 175 bout with Chael Sonnen.
RELATED > Wanderlei Silva Banned for Life After Evading UFC Drug Test
Silva, during a June 2014 commission meeting, admitted to willfully avoiding taking the random drug test. During the meeting, the commission’s sample collection agent gave a detailed description of the steps he took to track Silva down in order to collect the required blood and urine samples necessary for a random drug test. He also detailed how after contacting him in person at the Wand Fight Team gym, Silva fled the site.
Silva explained that he ducked out on the drug test because he was using prescribed anti-inflammatories and diuretics for a wrist injury. Diuretics are on the banned substance list.
The outcome was the lifetime ban and $70,000 fine.
Silva and his legal representatives subsequently took the matter to the courts in Nevada, which ordered that, while the NAC had full authority to sanction Silva, it overstepped its limits in handing him a lifetime ban and ordered a re-hearing of his sanctioning.
The case was first to be re-heard in October, but Silva's attorney, Ross Goodman, received some paperwork late in the process, which didn't allow enough time to prepare for the hearing, so the commission tabled it until November's meeting, which occurred on Monday.
At the November meeting, Goodman tried to provide the commission with a consent order that he negotiated with Nevada Deputy Attorney General Chris Eccles. The Nevada Deputy Attorney General at Tuesday's meeting, Vivienne Rakowsky, advised the commissioners to review the consent order prior to putting it on the agenda. The commission then tabled Silva's re-hearing until its next meeting, in order to allow time for the review of the consent order.
The commission's next meeting is expected in December, although a formal date has not yet been set.
