NSAC Speaks

Keith Kizer, the Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, doesn't seem to be messing around.

"I found out this morning -- I talked with another inspector of mine -- he said that apparently B.J. Penn had complained to the inspector in his corner after either the first or second round that he thought maybe Georges was a little slippery."

"The first round, one of the inspectors that was on the outside of the cage came over to me and said it looked to him that when the cornerman, who I think in that case was Phil Nurse, put the Vaseline on Georges' face then rubbed his shoulders -- which you see the guys rubbing the other guy's shoulders to help him out -- he didn't wipe off his hands between doing that. I said, 'Well, I'm going to watch very closely after this round.'"

This is bothers me. Why didn't the officials step in immediately when they saw it? Why wait until after the second round to see it happen again? If they see an infraction, step in and do something.

I think BJ Penn has a right to be more than annoyed about this. The officials saw it in between the first and second Rounds and chose not confront the situation. As I've discussed previously, the second Round changed the entire fight. It doesn't mean Penn would have won the fight. It just means he took punishment he might not have normally taken.

"At the end of the second round I watched, and then another cornerman who I believe was Greg Jackson, he put the Vaseline on Georges' face, and then he put his hand on his back to do the breathing thing they always do," Kizer said. "As soon as I saw that, it looked like there was still some Vaseline on his hand. Not a lot, but still some.

"Tony Liano and I immediately yelled at him, and I don't think he heard us because of the noise. So I actually went into the octagon, and I said, 'Take your hand off of his back. What are you doing?' We wiped it down. We made sure it was wiped down after the third round as well.

"This was after the second when I was in there. I was very upset. I don't know if they were doing it intentionally or not. Either way, they shouldn't have done it."

"It wasn't necessary. It definitely wasn't fair to Mr. Penn. I don't think it was even fair to Mr. St. Pierre. His cornerman should have been more careful if it was an accident. If it was intentional, that's even worse. Just very, very disturbing."

"We took the action we did after the second and third round."

"The example I give is Gaylord Perry of the (San Diego) Padres back in the day was known for putting Vaseline on the ball. The umpires did their best. Let's say it's the eighth inning and his team is up 10-0, he's throwing a shutout, and they find out on some pitch that he put Vaseline on the ball.

"They take action against him, but that wouldn't invalidate the rest of the game, although you could argue maybe he used it on every pitch and got this 10-run lead."

Awful comparison. Not even close. St-Pierre entered the second round in an even fight following a toss-up first five minutes. It was not a one-sided fight at that point. The officials did not act on the infraction until after the second round, which was five minutes and a dozen strikes to the head too late.

"The fans can make their own conclusions on what they felt from their aspect. They saw what I saw for the most part based on some of the .gifs (small video clips) out there showing what happened.'

I guess the UFC hasn't released the corner footage to them. That's the stuff they need to be watching.

"This may have tainted [St. Pierre's] victory in the eyes of many fans, and it's his cornerman's fault for that. It doesn't take away his victory, but it does take away from his victory in the eyes of many fans, I believe."