Official MMA News/Discussion Thread

[Lionheart]

Did GSP Use Vasoline To Defeat BJ Penn?

After a dominating victory over B.J. Penn at UFC 94, Georges St. Pierre is clearly the better fighter. GSP left no doubt. And yet now there is, thanks to one of his cornermen, Phil Nurse.

It's pretty clear by watching the video that Nurse had some Vaseline on his hands when he rubbed St. Pierre's shoulders, back and chest between the first and second rounds.

Check out the videos below to see the footage of the incident in question.

Why is that a big deal in mixed martial arts? It's significant because of all the grappling and maneuvering that takes place on the ground. St. Pierre was on top of Penn in the second round and the Hawaiian tried several times to shift his legs up to work for a triangle choke or an armbar. Grip and some friction is huge in these cases and a slippery fighter would make it more difficult to lock on one of those holds. Above you can see, Nurse apply Vaseline to GSP's face, then get more Vaseline, then rub his shoulders, arms and back.

Penn's trainer Rudy Valentino told InsideFighting that St. Pierre cheated and the Vaseline thwarted his fighter's strategy:

"To cheat to win is not honorable. Why need another edge? Our gameplan was on the ground, not striking because we knew Georges had good kicks. We planned to work off the back."

Valentino says they warned the Nevada State Athletic Commission before the fight alleging that St. Pierre did it before their meeting in 2006 and that Matt Serra's camp claimed the same thing happened in Serra's second fight against GSP.

Greg Jackson, GSP's trainer hurt his reputation according to Valentino:

"I respect Greg Jackson but to do something like that, his integrity has been compromised."

Jackson told his side of the story to MMAWeekly:

"In between rounds, you always want to put on vaseline on (a fighter’s face). So Phil Nurse put all the Vaseline 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."

Watching the scenarios (1, 2, 3), show Nurse did more than tap the chest and rub a little point on GSP's back.

Jackson chalked all of this up to an overreaction by the NSAC:

"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 Vaseline 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."

"The Commission" was actually NSAC executive director Keith Kizer. He bolted into the cage when he saw Nurse doing the same thing between the second and third rounds. Cage Writer spoke with Kizer after the fight and he was still steaming, saying that the rubbing of the back with Vaseline was completely inappropriate. But he was unsure if it had been done between the first and second.

UFC president Dana White also thought it was a serious violation:

"I saw the commission jump up there and flip out," said White. "They said one of the guys was rubbing Vaseline on Georges' back in between rounds. It was one and two, I think. 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)."

White didn't believe that it affected the outcome of the fight but he re-stated that illegal is illegal:

"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. 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."

Ultimately, did the use of the Vaseline win the fight for St. Pierre? No. But Penn's camp does have a right to complain.

St. Pierre should be getting props for being the better conditioned fighter, designing and executing the perfect gameplan. The way he wore down Penn in the first round by holding his left leg up on three occasions with the threat of a single-leg takedown, was brilliant. It allowed him takedown a tired Penn with ease in each of the next three rounds. More importantly, GSP was able to pass guard and shift between full guard and side control as if he were fighting a first-year jiu-jitsu student. Now Penn, other fighters who dislike St. Pierre and fans may call for an asterisk on his dominant victory.

 

[JS316]

^^ Gsp would have won anyway but cheating is cheating... thanx for the read!

 

[Beau]

Bah that whole thing was taken way out of hand...watch any fight and you will see corner man rubbing shoulders after applying vaseline to cuts etc etc. I'm sure the minuscule of Vaseline that was passed on to GSP traps didn't have any effect what so ever on the fight. Also the rules (NSAC) state you can't apply excess grease on the body. So technically he didn't cheat. Nothing will come of it.

The UFC has already made its own set of rules now though to compensate for the loop hole.

 

[Beau]

As someone stated on another forum....the amount of vaseline these guys put on there faces in between rounds transfers to the body of themselves and there opponents once the fight begins so this whole GSP issue is pretty obsolete.

 

[Lionheart]

Shamrock-Lashley Signed for Jones Jr. Card

Why Ken ,why!!?

Ken Shamrock will not rest on his laurels.

With only five weeks rest, the UFC Hall of Famer will face fellow WWE pro wrestler Bobby Lashley in a headlining heavyweight bout for the Roy Jones Jr.-helmed Squared Ring Promotion’s “March Badness” on March 21 at the Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, Fla. The event, which plans to alternate between boxing and MMA bouts, will also telecast on live pay-per-view.

Shamrock’s manager, Rod Donohoo, confirmed that contracts for the clash between veteran and newcomer were signed on Monday. BloodyElbow.com and Figure4online.com reported the bout first.

Shamrock, who turned 45 on Feb. 13, picked up a quick win over super heavyweight Ross Clifton at Wargods “Valentine’s Eve Massacre” on Feb. 14 in Fresno, Calif. Shamrock also co-promoted the event.

Though outweighed by some 175 pounds, Shamrock dropped the 380-pound Clifton with an opening right and maneuvered to the armbar finish with ease. It was Shamrock’s first victory in three years and five fights.

Shamrock will have another bulky opponent to contend with in Lashley, a formidable 6-foot-3 specimen carrying around 265 pounds of pure muscle. Shamrock doesn’t seem fazed though.

“Ken was definitely interested in this bout because he gets to face a guy bigger than himself, who’s in great shape as well,” Donohoo told Sherdog.com.

Lashley, 32, hopes to build his resume towards a heavyweight title bout, much in the way former WWE champion Brock Lesnar (3-1) toppled Randy Couture at UFC 91 last November to grasp that promotion’s coveted title.

Though a novice in MMA –- Lashley has one fight under his belt –- the Colorado resident won’t come in empty-handed.

Lashley was a three-time NAIA National Champion at 177 pounds, a four-time All-American, a three-time National Amateur Wrestling Champion, a two-time Armed Forces Champion and a 2002 Silver Medalist at the Military World Championship, according to the NAIA Web site.

Having recently pledged his allegiance to American Top Team, Lashley made a speedy MMA debut last December for the Mixed Fighting Alliance in Miami, stifling Joshua Franklin in only 41 seconds with a TKO stoppage via a cut from elbows in the guard.

Squared Ring Promotions “March Badness”
March 21
Pensacola Civic Center
Pensacola, Fla.

Ken Shamrock vs. Bobby Lashley
Seth Petruzelli vs. Doug Marshall
Roy Nelson vs. Jeff Monson

 

[Lionheart]

Couture-Nogueira Slated for August

A clash between former UFC and Pride heavyweight champions has been agreed upon, at least in principle, to take place inside the Octagon sometime in August.

Six-time UFC champion Randy Couture confirmed to Sherdog.com on Thursday that he’d verbally agreed to face Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in a UFC 101 matchup, which was first reported by MMAWeekly.com. Couture’s camp received word on Saturday that the vaunted Brazilian has accepted the bout as well.

Couture had previously turned down an offer to fight Nogueira earlier this year to undergo elbow surgery in January for an old injury.

Bout agreements for the anticipated heavyweight fight still remain to be signed, while Couture will have a host of projects to juggle with the fight, including a major motion picture role in “The Expendables,” which will shoot from March to May in Brazil and Louisiana. Couture will star alongside Sylvester Stallone, who wrote and will also direct the film that includes an assemblage of action star greats from Jet Li to Jason Statham, as well as recent Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke.

Couture will also shoot a role in the film “Warrior,” directed by Gavin O’Connor, sometime this summer.

Couture (16-9) dropped his third heavyweight title to Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 in Las Vegas last November, after the 2000 NCAA wrestling champion clipped the 45-year-old fighter with a right and sent him to the canvas. The matchup had been competitive up until that point, though Lesnar had nearly 50 pounds on Couture.

During his 12-year professional career, Couture also earned three UFC titles at light heavyweight, including an interim championship against former 205-pound champ Chuck Liddell. Couture holds wins over notables Liddell, Vitor Belfort, Kevin Randleman, and Tim Sylvia.

Nogueira (31-5-1), who blazed through Pride’s heavyweight ranks until three ill-fated meetings with No. 1 world-ranked Fedor Emelianenko, will also be on the rebound.

The 32-year-old jiu-jitsu black belt was stopped for the first time ever with a second-round technical knockout at the hands of Frank Mir in their interim title bout at UFC 92 last December. Mir will meet champion Lesnar to unify the two belts at UFC 98 on May 23 in Las Vegas.

Outside of Emelianenko and Mir, only Dan Henderson and Josh Barnett can lay claim to victory over the revered Brazilian.

Couture travels to Germany this week to take part in a press conference for UFC 99, the promotion’s first foray into the country. UFC 99 will be held at the Lanxess Arena on June 13 in Cologne. The German-speaking Couture, who spent the majority of his four-year Army career there, was considered to headline the card, although his prior film engagements prevented his participation.

 

[Tech]

 

[JS316]

Rogers vs Fedor...

who you guys got?

 

[jnutz19]

WOW!!!!! now that was a knockout. hell i thought Arlovski was better then that.

 

[JS316]

^^Arlovski didn't look as in good shape as usual. Still every time some1 tags his jaw he crumbles.

 

[JS316]

Rogers vs Fedor...

who you guys got?

Wow!! Major surprise.

 

[Rageking]

Wow!! Major surprise.

:iorofl:

 

[PrinceVegeta]

UFC 111 happened yesterday, watching it right now, good card!

 

[Lionheart]

 

[Pickle]

bump for fedor vs werdum on june 26.

 

[_ROBERTiNHO_]

bump for fedor vs werdum on june 26.

Fabricio Werdum trained Cro Cop some years ago. He's a JJ expert, but I think he has no chances against Fedor.

 

[Natzo]

speaking of Mirko Cro Cop.

the guy is going to fight in UFC 115, one of my favourite fighters! wanna see him kicking pat barry's ass!

 

[Pickle]

bump for fedor werdum

 

[Pickle]

fedor lost!

 

[Pickle]

bump for updates. anyone heard anything on fedors next fight? I think his plan was originally 2 more fights on exsisting contract werdum and overeem and then jump to ufc. I seriously doubt he will ever get to ufc and even if he does whos he fight, if he gets a good win next it will mean little because i doubt he'll get an immediate rematch with werdurm and hes not getting overeem after a loss like he had.

rough top 10 ufc rankings
1. lesnar
2.velasquez
3. Junior Dos Santos
4. Carwin
5. Mir
6. Nogeirra
7.Big Country
8. Gonzaga
9. Kongo
10. Cro Cop

i assume carwin will fight winner of big country vs dos santos and take on the winner of lesnar velasquez.

mir is fighting nogerria again.

If fedor makes it over White has already said hes not as good as mir does that mean he has a fight with crocop ? or someone outside of the top 10?