B.J. Penn’s camp has filed a formal complaint with the Nevada State Athletic Commission over Vaseline that was allegedly rubbed on Georges St. Pierre’s back between rounds one and two. UFC president Dana White said at the post-fight press conference that he was aware of the complaint, and said he personally witnessed members of the commission take the Vaseline away from GSP’s camp and rebuke them in the Octagon between rounds.
“I saw the commission jump up there and flipping out,” said Dana White. They said one of the guys was rubbing Vaseline on Georges’ back in between rounds. It was one and two, I think.”
“The guys from the athletic commission went up there and started screaming at them. Knocked the Vaseline and kicked the Vaseline out of the Octagon.”
White added that “some Vaseline on a guy’s back didn’t change the outcome of that fight, but you don’t do it,” and said the blame should fall on the cornerman responsible and not GSP.
“If a guy was intentionally putting Vaseline on a guy’s back, he should never corner a mixed martial arts fight again.”
St. Pierre appeared on MMA Live after the show and stated that one of his cornermen applied vaseline to his face between rounds and then rubbed his back, accidently applying the remaining vaseline. An NSAC official noticed the application and immediately had the residue wiped off with a towel.
Zach Arnold takes a sensationalistic approach:
If the NSAC agrees that indeed rules were violated, it will immediately taint St. Pierre’s dominant win over Penn. I realize and you realize that St. Pierre put on a dominant performance, but Penn’s camp has a perfectly legitimate gripe here if the accusations of vaseline usage (in this manner) are true. While Dana White tried to soften the blow of the allegations about possible illegal vaseline usage on St. Pierre, the fact that White is trying to deflect all the heat for the incident on a cornerman and not on St. Pierre is unacceptable.
I’m not sure I understand how the heat for the incident should be placed on the shoulders of St. Pierre, who likely had quite a bit on his mind at that moment and wasn’t even remotely thinking about vaseline accidently being applied to his back.
If St. Pierre had gone through several rounds with vaseline on his back, then BJ Penn’s camp would have a legitimate complaint. When you combine the fact that the fight was already being dominated by St. Pierre prior to the incident and that the vaseline was wiped off before the round even began, the complaint holds little to no credibility. I do understand the reasoning for the official filing, however, because it’s one of those things that automatically had to be done, even if it doesn’t call the fight into question.
The cornerman who wiped the vaseline on St. Pierre’s back may have done it unintentionally, but he should still be punished simply because those are the types of things they are paid to do. They’re paid to give their fighter the best possible chance of winning a fight, and putting a question mark on that performance, even accidently, is a failure of your duties.
This isn’t even remotely the “UFC’s version of Akiyama.” Not in the slightest. Akiyama’s legs were completely greased with vaseline in a blatant attempt to prevent takedowns; from all indications, this was an accident that had absolutely no effect on the outcome of the fight.
