The California State Athletic Commission will lose their executive director soon as according to MMAjunkie.com, Armando Garcia has resigned from the Commission; the acceptance of Garcia’s resignation will be an item on the agenda at the CSAC’s next meeting, scheduled for November 18 in Los Angeles.  During the meeting, the Commission will appoint an interim executive director and create a search committee to find a permanent replacement for Garcia.

Prior to becoming executive director of the CSAC in 2005, Garcia was a boxing referee and judge; during his tenure, the state of California became a hotbed of MMA events, hosting several EliteXC, Strikeforce and UFC events.  The Commission, on his watch, also implemented stringent drug testing procedures which resulted in the suspension of several high-profile fighters, including Royce Gracie, Sean Sherk, Phil Baroni and Antonio Silva; ever since the Sherk case, the Commission has made some changes to its drug-testing program and now performs analysis of drug tests in World Anti-Doping Agency-certified facilities only. 

Photo: courtesy of Loretta Hunt, FCFighter.com