Nick Diaz's settlement did not come without concessions.
On Tuesday, the Nevada Athletic Commission unanimously approved the terms of a deal with Diaz, reducing his suspension to 18 months and his fine to $100,000. The NAC had previously suspended Diaz for five years and fined him $165,000 in September for testing positive for marijuana for the third time in the state.
Diaz will now be able to fight as early as Aug. 1. That's the good news. However, in order for the deal to go through, Diaz had to declare in writing that he "wrongfully" took the Fifth Amendment in the original hearing.
In the declaration, Diaz said his legal counsel advised him to take the Fifth "when questioned by the Commission regarding my use of marijuana and, more particularly, whether I used marijuana prior to the January 31, 2015 fight."
"After conferring with new counsel," Diaz wrote, "I determined that I wrongfully invoked Fifth Amendment in response to relevant questions posed by members of the Commission and that I should have, and would have, testified to the Commission that I did not use marijuana 'in-competition,' as that term is defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency ('WADA') in its Anti-Doping Code.""
Middlebrook told MMA Fighting on Tuesday night that the Fifth Amendment controversy was a pivotal part of the settlement agreement.
"It became apparent that the NAC wanted the Fifth Amendment issue as part of any negotiated settlement and therefore the choice was between lengthy litigation or having Nick resume his career this summer," Middlebrook said. "While I, along with my team, still fully stand by Nick's invocation of his Constitutional rights and maintain it was the right legal decision, our main focus was resuming Nick's career. I truly hope moving forward that due process of the law is a reality and not just a legal catchphrase."
LINK: Nick Diaz declared he 'wrongfully' took Fifth Amendment as part of NAC settlement agreement