Nick Diaz is not going down without a fight.

Weeks after the Nevada State Athletic Commission announced that Diaz had tested positive for marijuana metabolites following his UFC 143 loss to Carlos Condit in February and was potentially subject to an undetermined punishment, Diaz's lawyer, Ross Goodman of the Las Vegas-based Goodman Law Group, has issued a strong response to the NSAC, which raises some serious questions regarding whether Diaz deserves to be punished at all.



In the response, which Goodman has shared with MMAFighting.com and can be found below, he explains that Diaz's medical marijuana use, which he states should be, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency, whose laws have been adopted by the NSAC, considered "out-of-competition" since it ended eight days before the fight, plus the fact that only marijuana metabolites were found in his system, are reasons why Diaz didn't break any of the NSAC's rules.

Goodman also states that the "presence of a marijuana metabolite is not a prohibited substance under NAC 487.850 and should not, therefore, serve as a basis for any disciplinary action."

According to Goodman, Diaz's hearing in Nevada could happen as soon as April, but no exact date has been finalized just yet. Diaz's license was temporarily suspended by the NSAC in February. He hopes that this response will allow Diaz, who was suspended for six months and fined by the NSAC for testing positive for marijuana following his PRIDE 33 fight against Takanori Gomi February 2007, to walk away from the situation without any kind of punishment.

Read Goodman's entire six-page response here: Nick Diaz Response to NSAC Complaint