An MMA Thanksgiving: 2015 All-Turkey Team

Anderson Silva and the Nevada Athletic Commission

GREG SAVAGE: In terms of incompetence, not much compares to our good friend Anderson Silva’s defense at his Nevada Athletic Commission hearing in August? With all of the other nonsense playing out across the MMA landscape in 2015, fans could be forgiven if they had forgotten about the fighter once thought to be the Greatest of All-Time and his multiple drug test failures surrounding his January bout with Nick Diaz.

However, Silva and his team went with the “sorry commissioners, I took a blue liquid over-the-counter sexual aid and that must have messed up my blood work” defense and in the process tarnished his legacy forever. Perhaps they should have just gone with the even crazier yet much more successful Chewbacca defense; it worked for O.J. Simpson on South Park and I’m sure it would have helped, if only slightly, more than the crazy defense they put on.

That brings us to our favorite whipping boys and girl, the Nevada Athletic Commission. After suspending Silva for one year, retroactive to Jan. 31 -- he is scheduled to fight Vitor Belfort just a month or so after his suspension ends -- the NAC went and did the unthinkable. It suspended Diaz for five years for yet another positive marijuana test.

Let that sink in for a moment: one year for multiple PED positives after a bats--- crazy defense and five years for Diaz for weed. No seriously, we can’t make this up.

The fact that Diaz employed a qualified and keen defense team who argued skillfully on his behalf seemed to be the key factor in the commission overstepping their bounds in punishing him well beyond the scope of their recently approved sanctions. Most notably, it was Commissioner Pat Lundvall, the walking epitome of the scorned ex, who argued for a lifetime ban.

While the rest of the commission pulled back from the brink, it did so with the idea that five years seemed reasonable after poo-pooing Lundvall’s crazy-vindictive original motion. Not seeing the ridiculousness of its decision in light of Diaz’s opponent’s much lighter punishment is a glaring mistake that has seen the NAC caught up in a Presidential petition drive, as well as a groundswell of support for Diaz from all corners of the sport’s world.

It has been reported that the NAC is taking another look at the five-year ban and the accompanying $165,000 fine. It seems plausible it will reduce both parts of the decision but not in time to keep it from All-Turkey immortality.

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