Nevada sets March 17 hearing for Vaseline-gate
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The Nevada State Athletic Commission will hear from the camps of Georges St-Pierre and B.J. Penn on March 17 over the disputed outcome of St-Pierre’s successful Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title defense, executive director Keith Kizer said.
Penn, the UFC’s lightweight champion, decried during and after his loss -- his corner and a ringside doctor stopped the Jan. 31 fight after four rounds -- that St-Pierre’s corner, supervised by head trainer Greg Jackson and cornerman Phil Nurse, had applied excessive amounts of Vaseline on the shoulders and back of St-Pierre. Penn claims that deprived him of any chance at victory since St-Pierre turned the fight into a wrestling match and the lighter fighter said he couldn’t get ahold of the larger Canadian.
The five-member commission will weigh information gathered in letters by all the parties, along with expected testimony.
‘They’ll find out exactly what and why happened,’ Kizer said. ‘It could lead to discipline or rules modifications or just the commission telling the St-Pierre corner, ‘Be careful the next time.’ ‘
Jackson also trains UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans and Keith Jardine in Albuquerque, N.M.
Evans, in Columbus, Ohio, to watch Jardine’s Saturday night light-heavyweight fight against Irvine’s Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, told The Times today that Nurse’s Vaseline application was ‘just a misunderstanding. He didn’t intentionally put it on Georges’ back, he was just using a technique.
‘We know what really happened. It’s just not that big of an issue, other than the perception that maybe he did do something wrong. He didn’t. It’s not a big deal for Jackson’s gym.’
Evans said Jackson addressed the controversy with his fighters recently, explaining ‘what happened, and what everyone else was saying about it. We know how hard we all train. We don’t take shortcuts.’
--Lance Pugmire
