Dana White Reacts To Wanderlei Silva's Lifetime Ban, Nate Diaz Returns, Wanderlei Comments

By Wrestling Inc. Staff

- UFC president Dana White was not surprised when the Nevada Athletic Commission decided to hand out a stiff penalty for Wanderlei Silva. "The Axe Murderer" was fined $70,000 and given an indefinite suspension during a recent board meeting after refusing to take a drug test earlier this year.

"I think he was trying to put up a smoke screen. Look over here because he does it a few days before he's about to go in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission," White said in his weekly interview with UFC.com. "The guy ran from a drug test. I've been saying it for a long time that he was going to get something serious."

While the suspension wasn't referred to as a lifetime ban, saying it is indefinite all but means Silva's fighting career in the UFC is over. The length of the suspension did surprise White.

"I didn't see a lifetime ban coming, but probably the worst thing you can do is run from a drug test. You can't run from a drug test," White said. "I've never said a bad thing about Wanderlei Silva in my life. I've always respected the guy and there is no way that guy can ever say that myself or Lorenzo Fertitta ever disrespected him. There's nothing more that needs to be said."

- Nate Diaz, a one-time UFC lightweight title contender, will return to the Octagon for the first time since 2013 when he meets Rafael dos Anjos at UFC on FOX 13. The event is set for December 13 from Phoenix with Junior dos Santos-Stipe Miocic serving as the main event.

Diaz (17-9) had been trying to get a new deal from the UFC after defeating Gray Maynard. He lost his title fight with then-champion Benson Henderson in 2012 and was also defeated by Josh Thomson.

Dos Anjos (22-7) positioned himself as a contender when he knocked out Henderson earlier this year. He is 7-1 in his last eight fights, with the lone loss coming to Khabib Nurmagomedov.

- Wanderlei Silva took to Twitter to address his supporters following the indefinite suspension handed down earlier this week by the Nevada Athletic Commission. Silva refused a drug test and was both suspended and fined by the NAC.

"Thanks friends," he wrote. "Thank you for everything. For guys who want to overthrow me, that has come, the war has just begun."

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