NSAC taking 'Grease-Gate' seriously
Some fans may think the Vaseline usage by Georges St. Pierre's corner at UFC 94 is much ado about nothing. The Nevada State Athletic Commission and UFC president Dana White seem to be pretty worked up about the whole thing.
Keith Kizer, the Executive Director of the NSAC, spoke with both Las Vegas papers on Monday. He told the Las Vegas Sun that reports on the Internet that B.J. Penn's camp had filed an official protest were inaccurate but this is a situation that must be looked into:
"They haven’t filed anything yet, but they could still do so in the next few days. We’ve already begun looking very closely at the situation. The penalty for a licensee who violates commission rules can be a fine, or suspension, or revocation. How far this will go? I don’t know."
Kizer said he jumped into action between the second and third rounds:
"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."
He also said that whether legit or not, St. Pierre's reputation is damaged and some fans will label his win over Penn a tainted victory:
"This doesn't necessarily take away his victory, but it takes away from his victory, and that's unfortunate. I told them unfortunately, because of their actions, they have probably tarnished St. Pierre's victory in the eyes of the fans."
The stories from the Penn camp have been all over the map in the aftermath. Reports on SI.com stated that he may consider retiring while his Facebook page appeared to indicate that he was looking forward to a June fight with Kenny Florian.
