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01/02/09 - Penn formally requests investigation into GSP 'foul play'
BJ Penn’s camp has asked the Nevada State Athletic Commission for an investigation into whether Georges St. Pierre used Vaseline to secure an unfair advantage in last night’s welterweight title fight at UFC 94.
After the fight, a member of Penn’s entourage told Fighters Only that St. Pierre had come out for the second round “covered in Vaseline”.
He added that athletic commission representatives were aware of this, and said the “whole [of Penn’s] team is pissed off”.
At the post-fight press conference, it emerged that athletic commission representatives had indeed got involved in a row over Vaseline.
"I saw the commission jump up there and flip out. They said one of the guys was rubbing Vaseline on Georges' back in between rounds. It was one and two, I think," said UFC president Dana White.
"The guys from the athletic commission went up there and started screaming at [GSP‘s corner men]… and kicked the Vaseline out of the Octagon."
White added that, while using Vaseline in such a manner is outside the rules, the offending cornerman should shoulder the blame, as St. Pierre was not directly responsible.
"If a guy was intentionally putting Vaseline on a guy's back, he should never corner a mixed martial arts fight again," he said.
Footage from St. Pierre’s corner shows one of his team applying Vaseline to his face, then wiping his hands over the fighters shoulders in an apparent attempt to relax his fighter.
And a red-jacketed NSAC official can be seen grabbing a towel to wipe St. Pierre’s shoulders and torso dry, before remonstrating with the corner team.
No official statement on the allegation has yet been made by either fighter’s team.
John Joe O’Regan
John.fightersonly@gmail.com
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