Athletic Commission to hold ‘Grease-Gate’ hearing

By Andy Samuelson

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission will try to put an official end today to the six-week circus that has comically been labeled as “Grease-Gate” during a hearing to review alleged misconduct during Georges St. Pierre’s title fight with B.J. Penn at UFC 94.

NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer told Sherdog.com that the request from Penn’s camp to change “GSP’s” victory from his Jan. 31 bout at the MGM Grand to a “no contest,” could not happen at Tuesday’s 9 a.m. hearing at 555 E. Washington Ave., Suite 3200.

“The main thing here is let’s see what happened in the fight and let’s find out what happened from Phil (Nurse) and Greg (Jackson), what happened and why it happened,” said Kizer, who does not have a vote in the proceedings that will feature the five-member commission reviewing copies of Penn’s complaint filed last week, as well as documents previously submitted from both Penn and St. Pierre’s camp.

“Secondly, let’s figure out a way to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Now, whether it goes beyond that is up to the commissioners — and it may or may not.”

Kizer said if a commission member decides the complaints warrant disciplinary action, a separate hearing would take place at a later date.

Last Monday, Penn’s legal representative, Raffi A. Nahabedian, of the Rosenfeld law firm in Las Vegas, filed a 20-page document alleging that St. Pierre and his corner knowingly used illegal greasing agents between rounds to affect the fight that St. Pierre won when Penn was unable to come out of his corner after the end of the fourth round.

“It is Penn’s belief … that the aforementioned strategies were intentional and were orchestrated by Pierre as a means to unfairly and illegally defeat Penn in a regulated and sanctioned championship bout that prohibits the aforementioned conduct and that such calculated actions by Pierre were implemented as a means to prevent Penn from defending himself in a manner consistent with that contemplated in unarmed combat due to the highly and unnaturally slippery nature of Pierre during the bout,” read the document, which also requested the suspension of St. Pierre’s license as well as the licenses of his trainer Jackson and cornerman Nurse.

Kizer told Sherdog.com his interpretation of the Nevada statutes do not give the commission the ability to change the results of the contest unless a scorecard was incorrectly tallied, a referee was illegally paid off, a ref misinterpreted a rule that directly affected the outcome, or illegal drugs or steroids were used.

“What I see happening is something along these lines: a very strict warning to Phil, a warning to everybody that there’s no place for this, and maybe something (determined) along the lines that every corner can have one designated Vaseline guy and that guy cannot touch the fighter anywhere else on his body, except for his face, until the end of the fight,” Kizer said.

UFC Fanfest: The UFC is teaming up with Reed Exhibitions for a two-day “UFC Fan Expo” to be held Friday and Saturday July 10-11 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, which will feature meet-and-greet sessions with UFC and WEC fighters, MMA demonstrations, fan-inspired special events, training sessions, and other activities leading up to UFC 100 — which is expected to be one of the company’s biggest cards ever.

“We are pleased to work with Reed Exhibitions to present UFC Fan Expo in conjunction with UFC 100,” said UFC President Dana White. “The UFC 100 event is a milestone for us, for the sport of mixed martial arts, and for fight fans around the world, this will be an amazing weekend for UFC fans.”

"Huntington Beach Bad Boys II": Former UFC champ Tito Ortiz and former porn star girlfriend, Jenna Jameson, became the proud parents of twin boys Monday morning in Newport Beach, Calif.

A rep told Us magazine that the Las Vegas-born Jameson and her two babies were all “in very good health.”

Around the Octagon and beyond: Forrest Griffin will not only appear on the cover of the soon-to-be-relaased video game "UFC 2009 Undisputed," but the former light heavyweight champ has a summer date with Thiago Silva at UFC 101, unofficially set for Aug. 8 in Portland, Ore. ... UFC prez Dana White says Chuck Liddell is going "to have to go out there and dazzle me" during his bout against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 97. ... Speaking of UFC 97, the April 18 card to be held at Montreal's Bell Centre is complete. ... White says in an interview with Yahoo's Cagewriter that unlike the installment of "The Ultimate Fighter," he didn't have to visit the house for the U.S. vs. U.K. edition. ... It appears Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic is returning to DREAM in Japan instead of the UFC.