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UFC vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner appeared before the Nevada Athletic Commission earlier this week to discuss the use of marijuana by MMA fighters.

While Ratner would obviously like to see the drug not come up in pre- or post-fight testing, he doesn’t agree with the current stance the commission has against the use of it.

Society is changing. It’s a different world now than when I was on the commission. States are legalizing marijuana, and it’s becoming more and more of a problem with fighters testing positive.

Ratner is a former NAC executive director. He was speaking out against the fact that using marijuana carries a harsher crime than some performance enhancing drugs.

Right now, I just cannot believe that a performance-enhancing drug and marijuana can be treated the same. It just doesn’t make sense to the world anymore, and it’s something that I think has to be brought up.

Thanks to MMAjunkie.com for the quotes from the hearing.

Fighters such as Nick Diaz and more recently, Alex Caceres, have been given harsh suspensions for using marijuana.

Maybe the UFC is coming to Madison Square Garden in November, maybe it isn’t. When it comes to lifting the state’s ban on MMA, who knows? Regardless, folks in the Big Apple  have an underground cagefighting scene to satisfy them.

New York may be a land of confusion where Zuffa spars with the State Attorney General over the 1997 ban on professional MMA events while underground and amateur shows dot the landscape, but that doesn’t mean the sport doesn’t have its fans here. And it certainly doesn’t mean that those fans don’t appreciate a good gathering. So it was with the fourth annual MMA World Expo, which took up residence at the Javits Center in Manhattan on Saturday and Sunday, and brought with it a plethora of vendor booths, a jiu-jitsu tournament, FILA-sanctioned fights in a cage, and a variety of seminars and panel discussions. There seemed to be something for everyone, and a person could buy anything from a new pair of fight gloves to a photo opportunity with Nate Diaz to a chilled can of Xyience. Perhaps most important of all, though, was that it was an opportunity to soak up some MMA with like-minded individuals, whether they be heavily-tattooed or clean-cut, depressingly athletic or ardent couch-potatoes. Bummed you missed it? Don’t fret. MMAConvert has got you covered.

Former UFC Lightweight Champ Frankie Edgar taught a seminar on the finer points of kicking ass.

Meanwhile, TUF 17 superstar Uriah Hall was mobbed everywhere he went. Here he is staring down a kid who looked at him funny.

For all his new-found celebrity, Hall is still an MMA fan at heart, and he wanted nothing more than anything to meet Edgar. The two met and showered each other with respect and compliments.

FILA-sanctioned amateur MMA involves headgear and a complicated scoring system. Thankfully, it also involves violence.

One of the panel discussions was “The Future of MMA in New York”. Here’s the view from the stage.

And here’s me, sitting on the panel next to famed referee “Big” John McCarthy, who was around when the sport got banned back in 1997.

Some more amateur MMA action.

Things are weird in New York right now. As one of the last places in the nation to resist sanctioning MMA – despite the sport being huge and accepted and everywhere – New York has turned into a sort of Forbidden Zone. It’s a place where Zuffa is suing the state government for not lifting the ban, and threatening big UFC shows at Madison Square Garden if legislators don’t get their act together. It’s a place where for the last ten years a secret organization called the Underground Combat League has been the only game in town. It’s a place where the Association of Boxing Commissions writes to the governor to admonish him for allowing amateur fights to go on with less stringent oversight. If it were anywhere else in the country, you could easily buy a ticket to a UFC event or check out a minor league show. But it’s New York, where there are clandestine vale tudo fights at an undisclosed location one weekend, and another weekend has MMA bouts in a high school gymnasium while police in uniform look on.

In short, it’s crazy.

You could say the craziness was born when New York banned pro MMA bouts back in 1997, but that’s not entirely accurate. Back then, everyone banned the sport – which wasn’t so much a sport as it was a spectacle. No, the lunacy grew forth when the State refused to lift the ban, despite MMA’s dramatic transformation into something far less barbaric and sanctioning nearly everywhere else. That refusal bred underground fights, Sisyphus-like lobbyists perpetually rolling the boulder of change up the legislative hill, and a legal conflict that has gone nowhere.

It’s also given rise to an amateur MMA scene, which, according to the Association of Boxing Commissions, is woefully under-regulated. Is it? Do the thriving amateur leagues in New York following the same rigorous guidelines as their counterparts in New Jersey? When taken in the context of the New York State law that’s on the books, they don’t have to – which is the point. Take, for instance, the Aggressive Combat Championships event from Saturday night in the Bronx, which was the first-ever sanctioned amateur MMA show in the Five Borough. With around 800 spectators cheering on the fights in the cage, it stayed well within the legal boundaries.

So everyone – from other athletic commissions to the UFC to the minor league promoters on the ground to the fans themselves – are waiting patiently for the law to change. Until then, New York remains in a state of flux, and a place where you can watch some decent live MMA fights. That is, as long as you don’t mind the controversy.

That little failed post-fight drug test by Nick Diaz, the one that showed marijuana metabolites in his system, that is turning out to be one hefty mistake.

MMAjunkie.com recently confirmed with Nevada Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer that Diaz was fined $79,500 of his $200,000 purse.

It had been previously reported that Diaz would be fined 30 percent and suspended for one-year. He tried to fight the suspension, but was unsuccessful.

While Diaz announced his retirement after the loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 143, most believe the Stockton bad boy will be back in action next year when his suspension is over.

Photo credit: CombatLifestyle.com

Days after it was revealed that former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante had tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended for one year, the fighter’s camp has filed an appeal.

“Feijao” was fined $2,500, and received the aforementioned suspension, following a positive drug test after his quick win over Mike Kyle at ‘Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier’. It was revealed today that the positive test was for Stanozolol metabolites, an anabolic steroid. Other fighters to test positive for the steroid include “Cyborg” Santos, Chris Leben, and Tim Sylvia.

As first reported by MMAjunkie.com, Feijao’s camp has filed an official appeal with the CSAC, and it is expected that a hearing date will be announced in the not so distant future.

So much for that title fight with Mousasi.

Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante has tested positive for a banned substance following his quick victory over Mike Kyle at last month’s ‘Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier’ event.

As CSAC executive officer George Dodd confirmed with MMAFighting.com, Cavalcante was informed of his failed test earlier in the week, but has yet to respond. At this time, the fighter has been suspended for one year, and fined $2,500 by the athletic commission.

Ed Soares, who manages ‘Feijao’, claims his camp has sent out an official response to the CSAC, and will be appealing the decision.

Inside MMA speaks with UFC flyweight tournament finalist Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, who details an injury he suffered that will require surgery, Randy Couture and Keith Kizer, who discuss TRT, and Benson Henderson, who weighs in on the debate on whether Frankie Edgar or Gilbert Melendez are the superior lightweight.

Inside MMA airs live on HDNet every Monday night at 8pm ET.

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More clips after the jump.

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The boxing world was left shocked Saturday night following the reading of a split decision victory for Timothy Bradley over Manny Pacquiao.

Among those that disagreed with the split decision awarded to Bradley was long-time boxing fan and UFC president Dana White. The brash boss went off on the Nevada Athletic Commission via Twitter after the fight.

Nevada state athletic commission at its finest!!! Youve for to be fucking kidding me!! that is disgusting Nevada state athletic commission!!

— Dana White (@danawhite) June 10, 2012

The plan is for a rematch between the two to take place in November. However, the loss could end talks of a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather bout going forward.

Frank Mir, who was unsuccessful in his attempt to claim the UFC heavyweight title from Junior dos Santos at UFC 146, was allowed a therapeutic use exemption for testosterone replacement therapy, according to a report by Larry Pepe of Pro MMA Radio.

Pepe confirmed the news on his Twitter account, writing, “NSAC’s Keith Kizer confirmed to me that Frank Mir met all requirements for & received TUE for TRT for UFC 146 fight against JDS.”

Mir had to pass several pre- and post-fight blood tests conducted by the Nevada Athletic Commission. Pepe reported that he passed all of them.

Photo credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog