MMA fighter and medical cannabis enthusiast Elias Theodorou is now the first official professional athlete allowed to compete with an exemption for the use of medical cannabis in professional sports across the nation.

Watchers can catch the first-ever American athlete compete with a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for medical-grade cannabis on December 18, 2021. Theodorou was granted the TUE back in May by the state of Colorado.

“Validating my US Colorado TUE for cannabis with a fight and finish will officially stamp my place in American sporting history as the first sanctioned cannabis athlete,” says Elias Theodorou in a PRNewswire statement.

“This is a precedent not only for myself but for other athletes in Colorado and other states, which in turn can create a wave of opportunities for other athletes to apply for the same right to medicate with cannabis in competition.”

The former UFC fighter Theodorou isn’t the only one in the game using cannabis. In 2019, Brianne O’Neill from VapeXhale interviewed UFC fighter Kyle Kingsbury, who said that cannabis helps him recover from strenuous exercises.

“That is the great thing about cannabis. There are so many strains with different effects, so I can get specific strains for each scenario. When it comes to aiding physical recovery, CBD has tremendous anti-inflammatory properties and is what I use post-workout,” he said in the interview while promoting the benefits that cannabis has to offer.

“Many times, this allows me to recover enough to fit in a few extra training sessions per week. When you are performing at the highest levels, each training session could be the difference between getting the knockout or being knocked out.”

Now that the sports industry is becoming a tad bit more welcoming to the world of cannabis, MMA fighters like Theodorou are honoring the milestone moment with a celebrated and exclusive NFT for sale on the New World platform.

The NFT is expected to immortalize the “knockout punch” against the societal stigma of cannabis use in professional athletes. “I will commemorate my next fight with an NFT that represents the ‘knockout punch’ to the prohibition in athletics, validating my therapeutic use exemption means,” he explained in the statement.

The memorable milestone fight between former UFC (Theodorou 18-3) and Bellator (Baker 18-5) fighters will kick off at the Island Grove Event Center in Greeley, Colorado. Doors will open at 5:00 pm and is also available for pay-per-view to audiences 21+.