Slick move by corner could sully St. Pierre victory

When the final numbers come out, Saturday’s Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view event probably will be one of the most viewed in the company’s history.

But much of the conversation in the aftermath of the main event focuses on a moment that wasn’t seen during the broadcast.

Georges St. Pierre’s corner apparently applied a small amount of Vaseline to the fighter’s back and shoulders during his dominant victory over BJ Penn.

Keith Kizer, the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, said an inspector assigned to monitor St. Pierre’s corner noticed after the first round that one of the cornermen applied the substance to the fighter’s face and then rubbed his shoulders.

“Whether it was intentional or not, it was improper to do so,” Kizer said Monday.

Kizer said he saw a similar action after the second round and shouted to the corner to wipe it off. His commands could not be heard over the roar of the crowd, so he hastily and emphatically entered the octagon to make sure the Vaseline was rubbed off St. Pierre.

A slippery fighter is harder to control, making positioning and certain submission attempts much more difficult.

Kizer said Penn had not filed a protest as of Monday afternoon but that a reversal of the outcome is not likely.

Grounds for a result being reversed generally include a positive drug test, scoring error, referee misinterpretation of rules or some kind of collusion.

“This doesn’t necessarily take away his victory, but it takes away from his victory, and that’s unfortunate,” Kizer said, adding that he spoke with St. Pierre’s camp immediately after the fight. “I told them unfortunately, because of their actions, they have probably tarnished St. Pierre’s victory in the eyes of the fans.”

Kizer said he was informed Monday that Penn had complained during the fight that St. Pierre was slick.

• FRANCA OUT — Hermes Franca suffered a knee injury in training and won’t fight Joe Lauzon in the main event of UFC Fight Night 17 on Saturday in Tampa, Fla. Lauzon instead will take on Jeremy Stephens.

Also, Las Vegan Amir Sadollah was injured in training and won’t fight Nick Catone, who now faces newcomer Derek Downey on Saturday.

Spike TV (Cable 29) will televise the card.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.