My Take on UFC 94's “Grease-Gate”

I have been pretty quiet regarding the whole “greasing” incident involving Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94. Partially because I feel the potential grease applied didn’t affect the outcome of the fight, but mostly because there has been enough discussion other places online about it.

I’ll begin by saying that I don’t condone cheating in any form by any person. Whether it’s a fighter like Georges St. Pierre, Yoshihiro Akiyama, or Clay Guida, or a trainer like Phil Nurse or Greg Jackson, cheating in any form is unacceptable.

However, I feel that a lot of the heat regarding the incidents at UFC 94 should be aimed directly at the Nevada State Athletic Commission and its officials.

The NSAC assigns an official to each fighter and that official is with said fighter non-stop leading up to and through the duration of a fight. The NSAC official is with the fighter in the locker room when getting his hands taped and leading up to his entrance; walks side-by-side with the fighter to the ring and stands next to him before the fight begins; is in the ring during each round intermission; and follows the fighter back to the locker room when the fight is completed.

If a fighter is allowed to be greased up in the manner that Phil Nurse allegedly greased Georges St. Pierre, the NSAC is largely to blame for letting it happen. What is the point of having an NSAC official assigned the fighter and his trainers if he is not watching for infractions and rules violations?

In the past few days, several of St. Pierre’s past opponents have voiced their feelings about GSP being “greasy” while they fought him, as well. If this truly has been going on as a repeated offense for St. Pierre, how have we gotten to this point without it being noticed by the NSAC or any other commission?

It is extremely difficult in an MMA setting, especially in the UFC setup, to intentionally grease up a fighter and get away with it. In fact, it should be extremely difficult to unintentionally grease a fighter and get away with it.

Perhaps the NSAC should look into getting some capable and competent officials to prevent issues like this from even being possible in the future.