Who runs UFC anti-doping after the USADA era?

Effective January 1, 2024 the UFC transitioned away from USADA to a new model: Drug Free Sport International (DFSI) handles sample collection, the SMRTL lab in Salt Lake City handles analysis, and Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) handles results management. USADA had administered UFC anti-doping from July 1, 2015 to January 1, 2024.

What was Nick Diaz's 5-year suspension?

On September 14, 2015, the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended Nick Diaz for five years and fined him $165,000 after a cannabis positive arising from his UFC 183 fight with Anderson Silva — the second-longest suspension in NSAC history. The case is widely cited as the catalyst for the January 2021 UFC-USADA cannabis change and the July 2021 NSAC reform. The suspension was reduced to 18 months and $100,000 in 2016.

Did Nate Diaz publicly use a CBD vape pen at a UFC event?

Yes. Nate Diaz openly used a CBD vape pen at the UFC 202 (August 2016) post-fight press conference. The CBD-vs-THC distinction in his case helped the public conversation distinguish the two compounds — CBD was removed from the WADA Prohibited List effective January 1, 2018.

UFC Cannabis Policy 2026: USADA → CSAD Transition + Diaz Cases

Q: Does the UFC test fighters for cannabis in 2026?

Effectively no. On January 14, 2021 USADA and UFC announced that "positive tests over the threshold and decision limit for carboxy-THC will no longer be considered a violation of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, unless additional evidence exists that an athlete used it intentionally for performance-enhancing purposes." The transition to Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) on January 1, 2024 preserved that posture.

UFC effectively eliminated cannabis as a sanctionable offense on Jan 14, 2021 under USADA, transitioning to Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) on Jan 1, 2024. Nick Diaz cases, Nate Diaz CBD, Mike Tyson.

Status: Effectively No Cannabis Sanction Removed from list

USADA administered UFC anti-doping from July 1, 2015 to January 1, 2024. The pivotal change for cannabis came on January 14, 2021: USADA and UFC announced that "positive tests over the threshold and decision limit for carboxy-THC… will no longer be considered a violation of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, unless additional evidence exists that an athlete used it intentionally for performance-enhancing purposes."

Jeff Novitzky (UFC SVP Athlete Health & Performance) said the change "essentially" eliminated cannabis as a sanctionable offense, telling ESPN: "I can't think of one instance in any historical cases where that evidence has been there." The intent-of-use carve-out was effectively unused, and remains so under the post-USADA framework.

The 2024 USADA-to-CSAD Transition

Effective January 1, 2024, the UFC transitioned to a new model:

Drug Free Sport International (DFSI) — sample collection.
SMRTL (Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory) in Salt Lake City — sample analysis.
Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) — results management.

The transition preserved the January 2021 cannabis posture intact — CSAD does not treat cannabis-positive carboxy-THC findings as sanctionable absent intentional-performance-use evidence. The SMRTL lab is the same facility whose 2015 sample analysis exonerated Nick Diaz on two of three samples in his most consequential case (see below).

The Nick Diaz Cases: The Catalyst

The Nick Diaz cases are why combat-sports cannabis policy moved when it did:

2007 (Nevada) — 6-month suspension.
2012 (Nevada) — 1-year suspension, post-Carlos Condit fight.
September 14, 2015 (Nevada) — 5-year suspension + $165,000 fine after UFC 183 vs Anderson Silva — the second-longest suspension in NSAC history. Reduced to 18 months and $100,000 in 2016 settlement.

The 2015 case is the inflection point. Diaz had passed two SMRTL-analyzed tests and failed only the Quest Diagnostics-analyzed sample — the SMRTL-vs-Quest sample discrepancy galvanized advocates for cannabis-policy reform in athletic-commission frameworks. The five-year duration for cannabis — for a substance that, by 2015, had already been removed from out-of-competition WADA prohibition and had been raised to a 150 ng/mL in-comp threshold by WADA itself in 2013 — was structurally indefensible. The January 2021 UFC-USADA change and the July 2021 NSAC reform both trace directly back to this case. See Nick Diaz: 5-Year NSAC Suspension for the case detail.

Nate Diaz's UFC 202 CBD Vape

Nate Diaz publicly used a CBD vape pen at a UFC 202 (August 2016) post-fight press conference. The moment was widely covered and helped move the public conversation toward distinguishing CBD from THC — a distinction WADA itself codified effective January 1, 2018 by exempting CBD from Section S8 of the Prohibited List. The Nate Diaz vape moment, in retrospect, was a pop-culture milestone in athlete cannabis education.

The BJJ / 10th Planet Connection

Combat sports' overlap with cannabis culture in the United States runs through Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the 10th Planet ecosystem. Eddie Bravo (born Edgar Cano, May 15, 1970), a black belt under Jean Jacques Machado, founded 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu in Los Angeles in 2003 after his upset of Royler Gracie at the ADCC 2003 World Championship. Bravo has openly attributed creative breakthroughs (the Rubber Guard) to cannabis use; his close friendship and JRE collaboration with Joe Rogan amplified BJJ's openly cannabis-tolerant subculture. See BJJ & 10th Planet for the full ecosystem story.

The State-Commission Pivot: NSAC and Florida

The Nevada State Athletic Commission stopped punishing fighters for cannabis use in July 2021; Florida had announced a similar move in May 2021. NSAC's about-face mirrored the UFC-USADA approach: cannabis is no longer treated as a per-se violation. The state-commission shift mattered because boxing, MMA, kickboxing and other regulated combat sports operate under state-by-state rules in the United States, and a fighter contending in multiple states needs each state's posture to align. See State Athletic Commissions & Cannabis.

Mike Tyson and TYSON 2.0

Mike Tyson publicly used cannabis throughout his post-career and launched TYSON 2.0 in October 2021 with co-founder Chad Bronstein (President), CEO Adam Wilks, and parent company Carma HoldCo Inc. Products entered shelves in November 2021 with an exclusive cultivation/distribution partnership with Columbia Care. TYSON 2.0 is the most prominent boxing-derived cannabis brand and one of the largest athlete-led cannabis ventures by any sport. See Mike Tyson & TYSON 2.0.