UFC commentator Joe Rogan was upset over the ruling of the Nevada Athletic Commission to sanction Wanderlei Silva to a lifetime ban.
The NAC has made a decision on his case and had banned the UFC fighter for a lifetime coupled with a $70,000 fine.
Silva was not in attendance when the commission voted unanimously to render judgment but he was represented by his attorney, Ross Goodman.
The case was with regards to when Silva was subject to a random drug screening in Nevada ahead of his scheduled bout with Chael Sonnen at UFC 175, but ran from the testers.
According to Rogan "I just think the penalty is way over the top. It's one thing if you want to tell the guy he's suspended for a year. Pretend as if you caught him for using steroids. If he got caught and it was his first time being caught it would be a nine month suspension. Instead of doing that they prohibit him from fighting for a f**king life. A whole life. He can't be 80 and apply for a license for running from one drug test. I think that's ridiculous."
Although Rogan sympathizes with the Commission in showing how serious the drug issues are, but he does not agree with how it was delivered.
He said "You can't do it like that. You're sending a message that you have ultimate power and you're unreasonable. That's not reasonable. It's one thing if they said, 'Hey, we're going to suspend you for two years' like Chael Sonnen."
"Two years is big, but to say 'You can never fight again, ever, because you ran [from] a test.' He f**ked up. He definitely f**ked up. That's so unprecedented. It's so crazy. Even if they said they were going to suspend him for two years, man, that's harsh as s**t. There's a big difference between a guy running from a drug test and a guy beating the f**k out of his kid with a stick or a guy knocking his girlfriend out in an elevator. Those are different things. That's like some evil s**t."
Adding "These [fighters] have been juking the system for a long time. Chael was the tip of the iceberg and when he got popped it sent a real message to everybody."
"They want to clean that sport up and that's the way to do it. The way to clean it up is to randomize drug testing and to do the most stringent level of testing imaginable and that's what they're doing right now. If they didn't do that it becomes a mockery. If it becomes a mockery it actually devalues the sport. It could be detrimental to the bottom line of a business and that's the difference between guys like Lorenzo Frettita. He runs casinos. They know how to make money."
