B.J. Penn's camp says Greasegate is not over, despite the Nevada State Athletic Commission's belief that there is no basis for disciplinary action against Canadian Georges St. Pierre or his cornermen.
"Not at all. This is just the beginning for our side," Raffi Nahabedian, Penn's lawyer, told The Canadian Press.
"And I think that other commissions that are going to be watching this or reading about this are going to be, in my opinion, appalled at the almost lackadaisical attitude taken by (Nevada commission executive director Keith Kizer) Mr. Kizer."
Penn wants the result of the fight nullified, as well as sanctions against St. Pierre and cornermen Phil Nurse and Greg Jackson.
But Kizer only sees possible regulatory changes coming out of Tuesday's hearing in Las Vegas into whether St. Pierre was illegally greased in his Jan. 31 win over Penn at UFC 94 in Las Vegas.
"There's no pending discipline against anybody. . . . As far as the outcome of the fight, I told Mr. Penn's attorney he has the right to request that if he can show some legal basis for it," Kizer explained. "Saying that Georges St. Pierre might have taken some kind of magic oil pill -- without any sort of evidence -- is not sufficient.
"Any fighter's free to request overturning of their decision, but they have to show the facts and they have to show a legal basis for it. It's very limited."
Protesting a decision usually comes down to four areas in the regulations: miscounting the scorecards, a positive drug test, collusion of some sort, such as paying off an official, and a referee misinterpreting the rules.
The Penn camp clearly expected more from the meeting, after filing a formal complaint.
"I remain in complete disbelief and shock at the position Mr. Kizer is expressing and is taking at this time," Nahabedian said.
"We had conversations with the commission and we believed that we were moving in a certain direction to really come down and to determine, find out about the truth. Or the seriousness of the event. And I keep hearing Mr. Kizer saying 'Oh there's not going to be any punishment, no, no one's going to be punished. We're going to just change some rules.' . . .
"I think that when you have a sport such as mixed martial arts . . . which allows a man to position himself above another person and take his elbow and drive it into the skull of another human being, that a commission is compelled to take all actions that create an unfair fight seriously and to impose penalties and sanctions to those who are involved in unfair competition," he added.
Nahabedian said his next step will be to prepare a motion asking what material Kizer had reviewed prior to the hearing, saying the commission boss had not interviewed the fighters or seen the fight from all angles.
The truth is plain to see on the video, he argues.
"When the second round starts, watch the tapes, watch the footage, Georges St. Pierre slipping in and out of B.J.'s guard, B.J. has no control, Georges St. Pierre is as slippery as can be, subjects B.J. to a punishment that I guarantee neither you nor myself or anybody else would want to be subjected to and it is in that round you will notice that B.J. sustained a very serious uppercut to the chin, it is at that point we believe he sustained a concussion."
Nahabedian is also ready to summon jiu-jitsu experts and top amateur wrestling coaches to bolster his case on greasing.
The Penn camp at the hearing included Penn, his brother J.D., their mother, boxing coach Jason Parillo and Nahabedian. St. Pierre was not present but manager Shari Spencer, holistic therapist Steven Friend and his lawyer were. As were Nurse and Jackson, who were required to attend by the commission because of their alleged involvement.
"The point of the hearing was to look at the fight and see if there's ways to improve the regulation of the sport," Kizer said. "The Penn people tried to make it into some sort of disciplinary hearing or quasi-disciplinary hearing. That wasn't the intent -- ever.
"At the very least, what the commission will do is (come up with) a much more specific rule for MMA as far as substances on the body."
The St. Pierre camp issued a statement saying they are happy to put the matter behind them.
"We appreciate the NSAC providing us the opportunity to explain exactly what happened. We're glad to be moving on, as Georges is already training for his upcoming bout against Thiago Alves (at UFC 100 in July), and that's where our focus currently lies."
Kizer said Nurse "did a good job" in explaining that any possible transfer of Vaseline was accidental -- the St. Pierre camp argues that he was rubbing St. Pierre's back as part of a breathing exercise suggested by Friend, and that if any Vaseline ended up on the back, it was unintentional and not enough to make a difference in the fight anyway.
Asked if he thought the Vaseline had made a difference, Kizer replied: "I don't know, I don't know if you can prove that one way or another."
Nahabedian insists any talk of a breathing technique is a red herring.
"It doesn't matter if there was a breathing technique, it doesn't matter if they had a game plan, those are red herrings, it's nonsense. All that matters is that there was an application of a substance that created an unfair fight and that unfair fight could lead and eventually will lead to substantial bodily hard, death or injury that prevents the participants from any further fights in his lifetime. That's of paramount concern.
"And that is what I do not understand, and nor does Mr. Penn, that this commission is not taking (the complaint) very seriously."
Kizer dismisses any suggestion the commission did not pay proper heed to the Penn complaints.
"We took this very seriously. I mean I was in the Octagon yelling at (St. Pierre cornerman) Phil Nurse. I'm the guy who demanded those guys write responses, I'm the guy who asked the commission to put this on the agenda, so I take it very seriously. I have a lot of sympathy for B.J. Penn on this, but we're trying to make sure this doesn't happen again. We can't go back in time and change what happened on Jan. 31."
Notes: The commission suspended welterweight Karo Parisyan for nine months from his Jan. 31 fight and fined him $32,000 -- 40 per cent of his purse -- for testing positive for painkillers after UFC 94. The split decision win over Dong Hyun Kim was also declared a no decision ... A light-heavyweight matchup between Eliot Marshall and Vinnie Magalhaes has been added to the UFC 97 card in Montreal next month ... Japan's Caol Uno returns to the UFC Octagon at UFC 99 in June when he takes on Spencer (The King) Fisher in Cologne, Germany.
