St. Pierre Cornerman Stirs UFC 94 Controversy

[CaJuNsOuLjA]

St. Pierre Cornerman Stirs UFC 94 Controversy

LAS VEGAS - Although it flew under the radar for most of the fans in attendance and those watching on television, there was an incident during the UFC 94 main event mega-fight between Georges St. Pierre and B.J. Penn that could land one of St. Pierre's cornermen in hot water.

It seems that at some point between the first and second rounds, a St. Pierre cornerman allegedly applied Vaseline to St. Pierre's back, an infraction of the rules.

"I saw the commission jump up there and flip out. They said that one of the guys was rubbing Vaseline on GSP's back... in between one of the rounds, one and two, I think," said UFC president Dana White following the UFC 94 post-fight press conference. "I personally didn't see it, the commission did. And that's about as illegal as you can get... I'm sure the commission is going to deal (with it)."

St. Pierre was clearly wiped down with towels in between rounds two and three, and again between rounds three and four, by a commission official.

White believes - while the allegations are serious and that there should be serious repercussions - the outcome of the fight wasn't tainted by the incident.

"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. The guy who did it needs to be punished, it's not (St. Pierre's) fault," said the UFC president. "The question is what happens to a guy that does that. You've got to put the smack down on him. He should lose his license.

"I don't think that impacted the fight, I don't."

A representative of Penn's camp informed MMAWeekly.com that they had not yet determined whether to file a formal complaint with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

There was no comment available from St. Pierre's camp or from the Nevada State Athletic Commission at the time of publication.


Link (http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=8101&zoneid=13)

[CaJuNsOuLjA]

St. Pierre Trainer Responds To Allegations

The fighters of Greg Jackson’s team are no strangers to ritual inside the Octagon. First there’s the “Jackson nipple tweak,” a bizarre, if amusing, twist of the nipples his fighters often do before fighting, believed to prepare them for intense battle inside the Octagon. Now, there appears to be a new ritual in Jackson’s camp, and it’s the source of controversy following Georges St. Pierre’s rout of B.J. Penn at Saturday’s UFC 94.

St. Pierre’s cornermen, including Jackson, were at the center of a storm at UFC 94 after officials from the Nevada State Athletic Commission approached them during the fight to investigate allegations that they were applying Vasoline to St. Pierre in between rounds.

Jackson spoke to MMAWeekly.com on Sunday afternoon and said the misunderstanding arose after Phil Nurse, one of St. Pierre’s cornermen, executed a ritual taught by a member of St. Pierre’s team, a “witch doctor” named Steven Friend.

“So in between rounds, (Friend) had this little drill that you do – and Phil Nurse is the one who knows how to do it – he showed Phil, and this is what Georges wanted, so we did that,” Jackson said. “But this is why we were doing it. He rubbed your back and tapped your chest; I don’t know exactly how it works. But anyways, what that’s supposed to do is get your energy in line, or motivated or whatever. So in between rounds, we had Phil Nurse do that.”

Jackson said St. Pierre has worked with Friend for years, since the French Canadian began training at Jackson’s academy in Albuquerque, N.M. Jackson says Friend has also worked with Matt Hughes and Randy Couture in preparation for their fights. Friend was featured in the sixth season of “The Ultimate Fighter” as a guest of Hughes.

“The controversy came because Phil Nurse also was putting Vasoline on Georges’ eyebrows,” Jackson elaborated. “In between rounds, you always want to put on Vasoline on (a fighter’s face). So Phil Nurse put all the Vasoline on his face, so his hands might have had a miniscule amount left over from that, when he went around the side and rubbed a little point on his back, and tapped on his chest.

“At that point, somebody in the audience thought we were greasing George down, and ran over and told the commission that we were greasing his body down. The commission came in and said ‘you can’t grease him down,’ which didn’t work. They said ‘you’re putting Vasoline on his back,’ and Phil’s like, ‘oh, there might be a little on my fingers, but it wasn’t intentional at all, and of course they wiped it right off and it was gone, so it wasn’t a factor in the fight at all.”

Indeed, much of the fight played out with St. Pierre on top of Penn, doling out a vicious ground and pound attack. Jackson said after a little explaining, the commission realized what was going on.

“We told our side of the story, we said didn’t mean to put any grease anywhere,” he said. “If we were trying to grease the back we’d be greasing up and down, we would make it count. We wouldn’t do a little tiny spot in the back. The whole thing doesn’t make any sense, so they were fine with it once we gave our explanation. It wasn’t like we were taking gobs of Vasoline and slathering on his back. They didn’t understand the drill that the witch doctor was having us do, and so it looked that way. It didn’t effect the fight at all.”

At this point, no formal complaint has been filed with the NSAC. The popular trainer chalks the whole incident up to fan paranoia.

“The whole greasing thing is pretty ridiculous,” he said. “You can’t grease somebody up. You just couldn’t do it. They check your body before you get into the cage, there’s an inspector right there. In order for us to grease him up, it would be insane. There are cameras everywhere. We don’t cheat. We don’t need to cheat to win.”

Jackson said he wasn’t aware if St. Pierre’s ritual was related to the infamous “nipple tweak,” as the whole business was “out of his domain.” As long as it made his fighter feel better, he was all for it.

“If it works, we’re going to use it,” he said.


Link (http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=8107&zoneid=13)

[ccalvin]

Really didn't look like they were lathering GSP in vaseline. And regardless, Penn was being completely dominated.. I doubt a smidgen of vaseline would have changed that outcome.

[BoostJunky]

as long as St. Pierre doesn't get in any trouble for it... But like they said, it didn't taint the outcome of the fight...


GO ST. PIERRE!

[RojerLockless]

As much as I hate that french noob this had nothing to do with him beating the snot out of Penn.

[wever411]

are there replays of the fight online somewhere? i didn't get to watch it.

[BoostJunky]

plus i think he just barely put some on his shoulders and blades

[LunchBox]

Fcuk GSP!!!!!
Sorry, had to say it.......
I will never say GSP is not a very talented fighter, but I just don't like him. I guess it is all the hype. Plus, Penn has ALWAYS been one of my favorites. I expected Penn to put up a fight, but I think once GSP passed his gaurd a couple times (which NEVER happens to Penn), it got in Penns head and he just fell apart mentally.
I don't think GSP was greased up. It is tough to get that by with all the cameras that are on those guys.

[CaJuNsOuLjA]

... but one of candid discussion regarding a controversial occurance.

Do you believe the amount of vasoline evident on GSP was enough to justify the allegations of it having had a significant, negative impact on BJ's game insofar as it hindered his ability to maintain a high guard (or any effective guard for that matter)?

Here are a couple of gif's for consideration:

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/63/l_02d9038ffedf418bab1d9de82fbfc3bd.gif

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/21/l_0f886d1a3de84e9dbbc66d6190ccff5d.gif

Personally, I don't think the "amount" of vasoline put on Georges was enough to effect the outcome of the fight although I believe that it may have effected BJ's ability to maintain a high guard or climb up Georges' back- you will notice that as BJ went for "Mission Control" or any other high guard manuever, Georges was able to simply shuck his shoulder and BJ's leg would slide down. This is where I am conflicted on this issue because although I believe vasoline would have some impact, I ask my self if the vasoline would have had any more significant an impact than would mere sweat which would occur naturally. Having been in a few nogi competitions I can attest to the fact that holding onto someone who happens to be sweating is like holding onto a lubed up catfish- nearly fuggin impossible. Thing is, these guys weren't lubed up...they were simply perspiring and they had on rash guards, having no shirt on is even worse. Another thing to consider is the fact that the NSAC came in the ring and berated Rush's corner in between rd's when they saw what they thought may have been an illegal activity and attempted to ameliorate the situation by wiping Rush down with towels- they obviously, as it was happening, did not think it so grossly effectual that it would require a fight stoppage nor have they initiated any proceedings to have the decision recanted. They are of course investigating but I am curious what others thought of what happened here.

[RojerLockless]

download the fight on a torrent thats what i did. but it was boring.

now the other fight before this one 13-0 Lyoto Machida vs 13-0 Thiago Silva was awesome ;) gooooo karate!

[R6Spartan]

GSP dominated the fight, Its just BJ Penn eathing his words after all the BS he talked about GSP. They just need to move on and accept that GSP destroyed BJ PENN.

[CaJuNsOuLjA]

GSP dominated the fight, Its just BJ Penn eathing his words after all the BS he talked about GSP. They just need to move on and accept that GSP destroyed BJ PENN.

He [GSP] definitely dominated but you cannot deny the fact that extra slip would not act in his favor, particularly with a guy that plays the guard as well as BJ does. Don't get me wrong, I believe Rush would have won regardless...I just believe that shoulder lube stuff expedited and thus, made easier, GSP's effort to defeat BJ.

[maxgs]

I recall the commentators talking about how easily GSP was slipping BJ's high guard. While it might not have affected the outcome of the fight, it's still very poor sportsmanship, particularly in a title fight.

[R6Spartan]

He [GSP] definitely dominated but you cannot deny the fact that extra slip would not act in his favor, particularly with a guy that plays the guard as well as BJ does. Don't get me wrong, I believe Rush would have won regardless...I just believe that shoulder lube stuff expedited and thus, made easier, GSP's effort to defeat BJ.

I agree somewhat... BJ PENN has his days, the only reason there was such a a big hype about this fight was due to all the crap that BJ was talking. Beleive me, its just BJ PENN eating his own words.:nod::nod::nod:

Just like when Palmer ( I Think thats his name) beat BJ, all you heard were nothing but excuses, my ankle, arm,blah blah blah. Main reason why i dont like BJ.

( BJ PENN) incase anyone decided to get smart lol.

[CaJuNsOuLjA]

I agree somewhat... BJ PENN has his days, the only reason there was such a a big hype about this fight was due to all the crap that BJ was talking. Beleive me, its just BJ PENN eating his own words.:nod::nod::nod:

Just like when Palmer ( I Think thats his name) beat BJ, all you heard were nothing but excuses, my ankle, arm,blah blah blah. Main reason why i dont like BJ.

( BJ PENN) incase anyone decided to get smart lol.

I do happen to think BJ and his camp are blowing this out of proportion to use as an excuse because BJ would have immediately brought it up during the fight if he thought it was an issue- there's no way I'm gonna be fightin a guy and he has managed to nullify my game by "greasing up" and me not say anything about it (BJ is notorious for bitching post facto). We'll see though, so far, the NSAC hasn't made too much of a deal out of it. Like I said, I think it was a factor but not the factor.

[R6Spartan]

I do happen to think BJ and his camp are blowing this out of proportion to use as an excuse because BJ would have immediately brought it up during the fight if he thought it was an issue- there's no way I'm gonna be fightin a guy and he has managed to nullify my game by "greasing up" and me not say anything about it (BJ is notorious for bitching post facto). We'll see though, so far, the NSAC hasn't made too much of a deal out of it. Like I said, I think it was a factor but not the factor.

I agree with you bro.

Dammit I so need to get my grammer better. You can write so damm awesome. lol

[Squoddybody]

I recall the commentators talking about how easily GSP was slipping BJ's high guard. While it might not have affected the outcome of the fight, it's still very poor sportsmanship, particularly in a title fight.

+1

:eek3: I also heard this line over and over again. *IF it had anything to do with having been greased, then I think it was a pretty horrible thing to do. This is a tough call. :angry7:

[CaJuNsOuLjA]

I agree with you bro.

Dammit I so need to get my grammer better. You can write so damm awesome. lol

:keke: Thanks bruh! :thumb: Not like your grammar is bad now however...