A report Sunday evening by Brazilian media outlet Veja.com stated the UFC had withheld a payment of nearly $6 million to Anderson Silva after his failed pre-UFC 183 drug test.

The report claimed the withheld money was Silva’s (34-6 MMA, 17-2 UFC) $600,000 fight purse, $200,000 win bonus and the money he made off of his pay-per-view “points,” or percentage of PPV revenue, for the Jan. 31 pay-per-view fight, where the former longtime middleweight champion returned from a 13-month layoff to earn a decision win over former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz (26-10 MMA, 7-7 UFC).

The UFC released a brief statement to MMAjunkie: “The financial reports made by Veja.com are not true.”

There are a few things worth noting on the situation. Most notably, the UFC can not withhold pay from an athlete. In this case, only the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has that authority.

NSAC 467.142 and 467.147 outline payment procedures and the procedures for withholding pay.

Relevant notes from those guidelines:

Before the start of a contest or exhibition, the promoter shall deliver to the Commission, checks, letters of credit or another method of payment that is approved by the Commission for distribution to the entitled persons. All methods of payment other than checks must be submitted to the Commission not later than 10 days before the date of the contest or exhibition. Immediately after the contest or exhibition, the person designated by the Commission will release the payments to the entitled persons and will obtain their signatures on a list in which they acknowledge the payment.

In short, promoters have to deliver commission-approved payment methods to the commission 10 days before the fight, and the commission handles payment to the fighters. The commission can withhold that fight purse – in entirety or in part – pending the results of a disciplinary hearing. But only the commission may do that.

These guidelines are set up to protect fighters from competing and then not being paid by promoters for any variety of reasons.

It is also worth noting the NSAC can only withhold the fighter purses as reported to them. Any PPV points or other undisclosed bonuses and pay can not be touched by a state commission.

And, the UFC would be unable to legally withhold PPV points as they’re contracted agreements based on product sold and are not related to in-fight performance.

That said, the PPV numbers would not even be completely reported this soon after the fight, adding another layer of doubt to the initial report.

For more on UFC 183, check out the UFC Events section of the site.