Journey Newson wants to see athletic commissions ease up on cannabis.
Newson (9-2, 1 NC) had a lightning-fast 38-second knockout over Domingo Pilarte turned to a no-contest by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The cause? A failed marijuana test. Newson caught up with Fightful ahead of his fight against Randy Costa at UFC Vegas 11 and discussed the athletic commission's ruling.
"Legalize it," he stated. "Not just statewide but federally. It should definitely be legalized. All the things we were told about marijuana in the past, how it's a gateway drug, is complete bullshit. I think that was debunked a long time ago. You see all these other states starting to pop up and start to be a little more friendly to marijuana. I live in Oregon, so I can go to the store two minutes away from me and go pick some up like I'm picking up a bottle of water."
"That definitely needs to change," he said of suspending fighters and overturning wins for marijuana infractions. "You're taking wins off guys and girls who worked their ass off to get that win. For them to take it off just like that when it had nothing to do with the fight is just ridiculous."
The Costa fight was moved from September 26 to September 19 in conjunction with the UFC swapping dates for UFC Vegas 11 and UFC 253. The one week difference impacts Newson for a familiar reason.
"Yeah, kind of. Cause I smoke," Newson laughed. "I need a little more notice for sure. I'm definitely a marijuana advocate. It helps me with stress and relaxing my muscles after a hard day of training. I definitely look forward to it after the day is done. Honestly, I just take that into consideration."
UFC Vegas 11 takes place on Saturday, September 19 from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada with Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+.
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