Nevada court will decide by May whether to reverse Wand's lifetime ban

Wand (photo) tries to reverse the ban he suffered last year. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

The Clark County court, in Nevada, in the United States, is expected to decide by May 11 whether it will reverse the lifetime ban suffered by Wanderlei Silva after refusing to take a surprise drug test in May last year.

See too

For Wanderlei Silva, surprise anti-doping tests are 'against the Constitution'

Wand complains about 'slavery' in the UFC and Dana White responds: 'Slave of his mistake'

Nevada Commission rejects Wand's protest, says his arguments are 'despicable'

Due to the incident, the Brazilian, who would fight Chael Sonnen at UFC 175 in July 2014, he was banned for life from fighting again under the supervision of the Nevada Athletic Commission, which inspects all attractions held in the city of Las Vegas. However, unsatisfied, Wanderlei and his lawyer went to court alleging that the entity's jurisdiction had been disrespected.

According to information published by the North American website “MMA Junkie”, this Wednesday (22), the Brazilian's lawyer, Ross Goodman, and a representative of the Nevada Commission testified in court for approximately two hours. The main argument of the Brazilian's defense is that the entity had no right to demand a surprise exam, as Wanderlei was not yet licensed to fight. Consequently, the lawyer claims that there was also insufficient authority for a punishment to be applied.

Due to last year's controversies, Wanderlei decided to retire from MMA. Even so, the Brazilian still has a contract with the UFC, which prevented him from participating in promotional action with Bellator, the UFC's main competitor.

[vox id=”25890″]