Full Credit: MMANews
Early Sunday morning reports from Las Vegas have the BJ Penn camp set to formally file a complaint against Georges St. Pierre to the Nevada State Athletic Commission for excessive use of vaseline. UFC President Dana White commented on the situation at the post fight press conference:
“I saw the commission jump up there and flip 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.”
As for what becomes of the complaint now, White said it’s out of his hands.
“Who knows. That’s up to the commission.”
Insidefighting.com spoke with top Penn trainer Rudy Valentino this morning and he had the following to say regarding the issue:
“We just want to make sure it doesn’t happen again to someone else. It is not good for the sport. For their camp to be busted doing something bad like that, to be busted doing it and then to keep doing it after the referee had warned them… I respect Greg Jackson but to do something like that, his integrity has been compromised.” Valentino says of St. Pierre’s coach.
Valentino says that Jackson actually came to him after the fight and apologized for the alleged improper tactic. “He came to me and apologized for it, but to do it and then apologize after is a bit half hearted,” Valentino says.
Throughout the fight, St. Pierre successfully took Penn down and worked from inside the Jiu Jitsu world champion’s guard. Penn attempted to use a “high guard” where his legs would wrap high around the shoulders and head of St. Pierre in order to prevent him from posturing up and giving him space to strike or pass the guard.
St. Pierre was able to routinely slip past Penn’s grasp, land strikes and pass the guard, eventually bringing a stop to the bout after the fourth round. “His legs slid right off because of the grease on his head and back,” Valentino says. “I’m not trying to make excuses for BJ’s loss…he took a lot of hits and St. Pierre was the better man that night but the extra cheating is bad for the sport.”
There has not been a response from the NSAC or the GSP camp since the allegations began, however, GSP was asked about what exactly happened by ESPN’s MMA Live and brushed it off as a mis-understanding:
*Note* GSP appears on the show near the end of the broadcast: