Failing that USADA drug test cost Nick Diaz a lot of money, but it just might earn him more in the long run.
With Reebok fending off potential apparel sponsors and some companies not being truthful about what’s going into their supplements, earning sponsorship revenue as a UFC fighter can be a dangerous game.
The days of slapping a brand on your arse in exchange for a few shillings have passed us by just before it became fashionable for champions to ask for money fights against big draws instead one of those ‘dull’ defences against the next best guy in the division. It seems that in order to bank some sweet, sweet endorsement moolah as a high-level UFC fighter, one must think outside the box.
Iconic brawler Nick Diaz has never been one to embrace being confined to the enclosure of the proverbial box.
We haven’t seen Nick Diaz inside the Octagon since January 31, 2015. He was popped for marijuana for the third time in his professional career after his bout against Anderson Silva at UFC 183 and was harshly punished by the commission.
The NSAC initially handed him a five-year ban and a $165,000 fine, which received a lot of backlash from the MMA community. However, as is often the case with combat sports controversies, things started to improve once Cher intervened.
Not long after the singer promoted that online petition, his ban was reduced to 18 months and the fine was cut to $100,000. Now the Stockton native is finally available to return, but the promotion seem to be struggling to find the cult figure a fight that makes sense.
Although not fighting means Diaz hasn’t been earning any revenue from the fight game, he has managed to turn that positive drug test into green… in more ways than one.
He recently appeared in a highly-stylised, overdramatic advertisement for the Futurola. According to Futurola’s official website, it is a “family run business has its roots in the Coffeeshop industry in Amsterdam”. Not giving anything more away, we’ll just say it’s exactly the type of commercial you would expect Diaz to star in.
Nick Diaz commercial. pic.twitter.com/GwOnTfiTqE
— themmadigest (@themmadigest) February 7, 2017
