MMA’s Georges St-Pierre won’t be disciplined, Nevada athletic commission official says
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Georges St-Pierre won’t be fined or suspended and is in no danger of having his Jan. 31 Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title victory over lightweight champ B.J. Penn changed, Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Officer Keith Kizer said today.
Instead, the commission will more likely ‘fine-tune’ its rules and regulations regarding the application of Vaseline and other ointments to fighters’ bodies.
St-Pierre and Penn attended an NSAC hearing Tuesday as the five-member commission heard from St-Pierre’s cornerman, Phil Nurse, about his application of Vaseline on St-Pierre’s neck and shoulders during the fight, which Nurse has claimed was part of a between-rounds technique and not an intent to ‘grease up’ the champion.
Penn, after being pummeled by St-Pierre for the better part of four rounds, argued St-Pierre cheated. Penn’s attorney suggested in a 20-page letter to the commission that St-Pierre’s victory should be nullified.
‘There’ll be no discipline against any fighter, and nothing presented to us will allow us to have the decision changed,’ Kizer said. ‘The concern was with Phil Nurse and with what he did in the ring. Obviously, what happened shouldn’t have happened and the commission will take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.’
Kizer said changes to current MMA regulations will be discussed and likely adopted during a summer meeting.
Penn’s attorney, Raffi Nahabedian, said he was ‘perplexed’ by the commission’s response to the Vaseline use, interpreting it as a ‘We don’t know how to go forward,’ reaction.
‘A person had a slippery substance applied to his body, entered into a fight and used the slippery substance as an unfair advantage to win,’ Nahabedian said. ‘Then you say you’re not going to do anything about it?’
The attorney said Kizer was warned that St-Pierre ‘greases’ before the fight and also after the first round. In the second round, Penn sustained a concussion after failing repeated times to grab ahold of St-Pierre.
Nahabedian said he is exploring other options, including a possible appeal, expressing disappointment at how the Nevada board responded in comparison to California’s commission, which suspended boxer Antonio Margarito for at least a year for placing hardened inserts into his hand wraps in a January fight.
-- Lance Pugmire
