Penn’s camp asks for review in Vaseline allegation

By Andy Samuelson

Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009 | 3 p.m.

A lawyer for B.J. Penn has requested the Nevada State Athletic Commission review the UFC 94 title fight between Penn and Georges St. Pierre last Saturday night at the MGM Grand, saying the illegal use of Vaseline by St. Pierre’s corner prevented Penn’s ability to perform against the UFC welterweight champ.

“Mr. Penn’s most crucial offensive and defensive strategies, his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, were rendered useless as he was unable to effectively control GSP and engage his submission techniques due to Mr. Penn’s legs and arms slipping out of the attempted holds/locks and GSP’s ability to readily slip out of the holds/locks due to the highly slippery surfaces on GSP’s body. A circumstance and environment solely caused by the application of an illegal substance improperly applied on GSP’s body,” Penn's lawyer, Raffi A. Nahabedian, wrote in a letter to the commission dated Tuesday.

“This illegal situation made it impossible for Mr. Penn to defend himself and unfairly exposed Mr. Penn to GSP’s ‘ground and pound’ strategy which Mr. Penn extensively trained for and was fully prepared to perform against.”

Nahabedian also stated the substance put his client in a situation that could cause a serious health risk.

“Penn was subjected to a life-threatening and career-ending environment: an environment that the Commission was formed to protect against.”

While the request was not a formal complaint, it asks for a "comprehensive investigation and review of the activities involving and relating to Georges St. Pierre prior to and during the bout."

According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the St. Pierre camp will be given a chance to respond to the letter. Penn’s camp has 10 days (Feb. 10) to file a formal complaint.

Between the first and second rounds, and second and third rounds of the fight that St. Pierre won by fourth-round TKO, cornermen for the Canadian applied Vaseline to St. Pierre’s face before rubbing down his back, shoulders and chest. It’s illegal to put Vaseline on any part of the body besides the face in a mixed martial arts contest.

On Monday, NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer, who in between the second and third rounds Saturday jumped into the Octagon himself to notify another commissioner to wipe down St. Pierre’s back, said the commission had already begun “begun looking very closely at the situation.”

While Kizer said he doubted that St. Pierre’s dominating victory would be protested nor what affect the immeasurable amount of the Vaseline had on the fight, he said clearly the “avoidable situation” had cast a negative cloud over such a historic fight.

“Obviously it’s illegal and definitely unfortunate to Penn and also unfortunate to St. Pierre,” Kizer said.

St. Pierre's trainers have dismissed the allegations, saying the amount of Vaseline that got transferred was “accidental” and part of a breathing exercise between rounds.

UFC President Dana White has also dismissed the fact that Vaseline had any impact on the outcome.

"You could have put Vaseline on from head to toe, that wasn't the point, the point was you don't do it. It's illegal,” White said. “The guy who did it needs to be punished, it's not (St. Pierre's) fault. The question is what happens to a guy that does that. You've got to put the smack down on him.

"If a guy was intentionally putting Vaseline on a guy's back, he should never corner a mixed martial arts fight again."

Penn’s camp argued in the letter that it most certainly created an advantage.

“All Mr. Penn wanted to have on Jan. 31 is a fair and just bout and he continues to seek a fair and just encounter with Georges St. Pierre," the letter concluded.