Wanderlei Silva scored an important victory over the Nevada Athletic Commission on Monday, when a judge in Nevada district court lifted the lifetime ban and $70,000 fine, considering it "excess of the statutory authority of the agency".
Silva didn’t win the entire fight, though, as judge Kerry Earley ruled that the commission had "properly exercised jurisdiction" to drug test him despite the fact that he wasn’t licensed by the commission months ahead of a planned UFC 175 bout with Chael Sonnen last July.
The former PRIDE champion, who ran away from his gym when a member of the commission appeared to drug test him, will have to go in front of the commission for a re-hearing, but celebrated his first victory.