Nick Diaz accepts one-year USADA suspension for 2017 whereabouts violation

Nick Diaz has cleared up his latest issue with the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

On Monday, the drug testing organization announced that Diaz has accepted a one-year sanction for a whereabouts violation dating back to April 2017. The 34-year-old UFC welterweight failed to make himself available for out-of-competition testing on three occasions ranging from 2016-2017.

According to the release, “the accumulation of three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period constitutes an anti-doping policy violation.”

Despite USADA saying that Diaz remained in the testing pool, he was not tested for the remainder of 2017. In the first quarter of 2018, he was tested for the first time since the third quarter of 2016.

Because Diaz’s period of ineligibility began on April 19, 2017, he will be able to return to competition as early as 10 days from now. He has not fought since losing a five-round unanimous decision to Anderson Silva at UFC 183 on Jan. 31, 2015. That result was later changed to a no-contest when Silva tested positive for steroids. Diaz would also test positive for marijuana.

Read the full statement from the USADA here.