Axed: Nevada Athletic Commission Suspends Wanderlei Silva for Three Years

It looks like former Pride Fighting Championships ace Wanderlei Silva will have to wait quite a bit longer if he is to make a return to the combat sports as a competitor.

The Nevada Athletic Commission voted to suspend “The Axe Murderer” for three years Wednesday morning following an oft-delayed re-hearing on a lifetime ban he was plastered with 17 months ago.

Silva was given the ban from the commission for allegedly fleeing his Las Vegas gym when an official arrived to collect a random urine sample for his proposed fight with Chael Sonnen. When his lifetime ban from the NAC was overturned by a Nevada judge nine months ago, there was a glimmer of light that he might be able to fight again.

But things didn’t work out favorably for the Brazilian fan favorite as the panel this morning, led by commission chair Anthony Marnell, voted to continue to keep him out of action. Silva was not present at the hearing and was represented by his attorney Ross Goodman, but Marnell countered Goodman’s arguments that Wanderlei was unlicensed at the time of the sample collection attempt, calling them “irrelevant.”

Commissioner Pat Lundvall also added that in her opinion, Silva’s decision to allegedly escape out of a side door of his gym during the proposed test collection was, “some of the most egregious actions we’ve seen from an athlete.”

The three-year suspension will be retroactive to the date of his urinalysis evasion, which occurred on May 24, 2014; he won’t be eligible for reinstatement until May 25, 2017. If he is to apply for a new license at that point, he will have to supply a clean drug test.

There will likely be an appeal from Goodman to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Silva, who officially retired from MMA after he was banned for life, on Monday released a mock poster for the new Japanese promotion Rizin FF, where it pictured him to be paired against Fedor Emelianenko.