For a guy who doesn't want to say much about the Nick Diaz situation, Dana White sure has plenty to say.
The Nevada Athletic Commission suspended Diaz last week for five years and fined him $165,000 for failing a drug test for marijuana. It was Diaz's third offense in the state. White, the UFC president, has stayed mostly neutral on the topic while on the UFC 193 media tour in Australia. He opened up a bit more about it Friday in Sydney.
"It's so jarring when you hear this," White said during a Q&A. "'Wait a minute, this guy was suspended five years and got a $150,000 for marijuana?' You can take that completely out of context, too, but that's his third offense. It's his third offense and let's all be honest here, Nick Diaz doesn't exactly play by the rules. Listen, everybody would love to hang out and smoke weed all day and not play by the rules. That sounds awesome. That sounds like a great thing to do. But in reality, you can't do that, especially when you're dealing the government."
UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was sitting next to White and the initial question was actually for her. Rousey was very vocal earlier in the week in Melbourne, smashing the NAC for the Diaz suspension. This time, White interrupted.
"When this thing went down, we've been here," White said. "Many people who know me and know the sport, I've been a very reactionary person in the past. I'm a little older and a little wiser now. I don't just react. I have to know all the facts. I don't know all the facts."
White also brought up some past issues with Diaz, including a controversy with the IRS.
"Nick was also in a situation where Nick hadn't paid his taxes in a long time," White said. "You can't do that, either. It has to be more than just, 'Hey the guy smoked weed.' I don't know all the facts yet."
The UFC boss said he'll be back in the office in Las Vegas in the coming days and will find out more about Diaz and the entire ordeal.
Diaz actually passed two fight-night tests at UFC 183 on Jan. 31, the night he lost to Anderson Silva, and failed one. Silva failed a drug test that night and out of competition for steroid metabolites and was given only a one-year suspension.
"I promise you, you will hear from me soon on the Nick Diaz situation," White said. "I have to figure out all the facts."