Mike Chiapetta from NBC Sports has the full details:
Kizer told NBCSports.com on Wednesday that he has received a DVD copy of the first three rounds of the fight from the UFC, with angles that focus on St. Pierre’s corner in between rounds.
“There’s not a lot you can do after the fact but make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “But we can put them before the commission to talk to them, if warranted, and give them a chance to respond.”
In reviewing the Nevada state athletic commission’s regulations governing “unarmed combat” sports including boxing, kickboxing and MMA in the state, “greasing” a fighter’s body is not explicitly outlawed in the state athletic commission’s regulations.
Under the commission’s rule numbered NAC 467.598 and covering physical appearance of combatants, it states, “The excessive use of grease or any other foreign substance may not be used on the face or body of an unarmed combatant. The referees or the Commission’s representative in charge shall cause any excessive grease or foreign substance to be removed.”
Kizer, however, told NBCSports.com that while the written regulation doesn’t outlaw greasing the body, fighters at MMA events are verbally told by both the commission and the promoter that it is not allowed.
When the news of the alleged infractions broke, I figured that the story was a non-issue and would quickly go away. It’s now clear that’s not the case and that the story isn’t going away.
Dave Meltzer has an excellent writeup in the new Wrestling Observer Newsletter covering the situation, but one paragraph stuck out to me as the perfect illustration of the situation St. Pierre now faces:
After a dominant performance in what can be argued was the “Ultimate” match in UFC history, Georges St. Pierre had arguably become the new face of the sport. He had everything going for him. Incredibly athletic, well- rounded, and better yet, he looked the and played the part.
He was polite to a fault, grew up poor, trained hard and was devoid of any type of scandal. He seemingly was on his way to being remembered as one of the great sports heroes in his native country of this generation.
But by the next day, everything was in question. St. Pierre was accused of cheating by greasing for his fight, and questions started being thrown asking about many of his other fights.
Throughout history, it’s obvious that even a hint of scandal can derail someone’s career. We see this same type of situation in politics all the time, where even allegations of wrong doing are enough to convict a person in the court of popular opinion. Whether it’s right or not, the fact is that Georges St. Pierre’s career has taken a massive hit over the past few days because of the actions of Phil Nurse and Greg Jackson.
While it’s too early to tell if it’s going to mean anything in the long run, what is certain is that St. Pierre is going to suffer a bit in the public relations department for the short term.
