Anderson Silva's next fight will not be affected by Nick Diaz's DUI arrest according to UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertita. The company executive also stated that they would not be getting in the middle of the said case.
Anderson Silva's next fight against Nick Diaz is slated for January 31st at UFC 183 in Las Vegas. However, Diaz was arrested for suspected DUI two weeks ago, which led some members of the media to believe that the fight may have been put in jeopardy following the said incident.
"My gut feeling is, so long as Diaz doesn't actually end up locked up or engaged in a lengthy trial during the time that would have been otherwise spent training for Silva, the fight will go on," said Dave Doyle of MMA Fighting. "There's simply too much interest and too much money on the line. All we can do now is see how this plays out."
On Wednesday, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertita spoke to ESPN about Anderson Silva's next fight. The company executive believes that Diaz's arrest will not be affecting the scheduled fight in any way.
"I don't necessarily think, and this is me personally, the charges would prevent the fight from happening," Fertita said. "I've never seen a situation where a commission didn't license someone to fight because of a DUI."
Fertita also stated that despite the fact that Nick Diaz did violate the company's code of conduct, the UFC's upper management would not be getting involved in the case's proceedings.
"Look, clearly it's a potential violation of our code of conduct," Fertita continued. "It's something we have to sit down and take a look at, but I can't make any decisions or rush to judgment until this thing kind of plays out."
"That's why the legal system is there," he added. "If we start handing down decisions before we know the facts, it's not a good situation."
