The fallout continues from the January super fight which pitted welterweight champion Georges "Rush" St.Pierre against lightweight champion B.J. "The Prodigy" Penn.
For those of you who have been living under a rock, controversy arose after the fight when the attorney for B.J. Penn filed a formal complaint alleging that St.Pierre's corner illegally applied Vaseline to the fighter's shoulders and back in between rounds.
Sports Illustrated is reporting that the UFC has instituted new rules for corner men. Now, corner men associated with the fighters will not be allowed to administer Vaseline in between rounds to treat and prevent cuts. Only two men are allowed in the octagon in between rounds—if the official UFC supplied cut man is needed, one of the trainers must exit the ring.
Reported on this weeks edition of Inside MMA (HD Net) was that Georges St.Pierre released an official statement about the matter
"My entire camp and I have been completely open about what happened during my fight at UFC 94—we have nothing to hide. One of my corner man did use an energy technique to help me with my breathing that involves rubbing my back. If there was any Vaseline left on his hand after he put it on my face, it was unintentional."
The Nevada State Athletic Commissioner Keith Kizer told Inside MMA that the athletic commission has forwarded the complaint from B.J. Penn's lawyer requesting an investigation to the St.Pierre camp and that they have 20 days to issue a response.
Both fighters reputations have taken a beating in the two weeks following the fight. First, Penn has essentially been called a sore loser by everyone associated with Jackons MMA (where GSP trains) including Keith Jardine, Rashad Evans, and most outspoken of all—Nate Marquardt.
Penn has also taken a beating on most Internet message boards because of comments he made leading up to the fight about GSP being a quitter who tapped from strikes in his first title defense against Matt Serra.
Conversely, St.Pierre has had to deal with scrutiny over his alleged cheating scandal and many MMA fans aren't buying his explanation of it being an accident. In fact, Penn's camp was warned prior to the fight by Matt Serras camp to watch for the illegally applied Vaseline.
My personal feelings are that it doesn't matter if the Vaseline was applied by accident because it is still just as illegal. If I were Kizer, I would have to either rule the fight a no contest or reverse the decision in favor of Penn. It's not a matter of being intentional or unintentional—it's about the integrity of the competition. Whether it had an impact on the final result is debatable—what isn't debatable is that the Vaseline was applied illegally.
The soap opera will only continue in the weeks and months ahead.
One thing that's for sure is this "super fight" has changed the way most of us look at MMA and these two champions and it hasn't been what anyone would have expected.
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