5. B.J Penn vs. Georges St. Pierre UFC 94
Much like Yoel Romero vs. Tim Kennedy is often referred to as “Stool Gate” this fight sometimes gets referred to as “Vaseline Gate”. It is also sometimes referred to as “that time GSP beat the pulp out of BJ Penn”, depending on who is talking.
GSP destroyed BJ Penn during their welterweight title fight at UFC 94, so much so that Penn couldn’t answer the bell for the 5th and final round. During the fight however, one of GSP’s cornermen had vaseline on his hands while he placed his hand on Georges’ back to help run him through some breathing exercises in between rounds. This was controversial because it could have led to the transfer of vaseline to Georges’ back, making it easier for him to slip out of submissions, grapple, and generally be less easy to hold onto.
Considering how dominant Georges was in this fight, it is doubtful that a small amount of vaseline on his back impacted the outcome at all, but it was still against the rules and many were critical of his team for what happened.
