GSP – Greasegate
A classic welterweight rivalry between Georges St-Pierre and BJ Penn reached boiling point when they went head-to-head for a rematch at UFC 94 in 2009.
Penn vowed to go “to the death” in order to beat his rival, but despite his pre-fight trash-talk, ‘The Prodigy’ would suffer a one-sided beating that was so bad that his corner waved off the fight prior to the final round.
However, afterwards Penn bitterly complained that the welterweight champion had deliberately been “greased” with vaseline on the shoulders and back between rounds in order to thwart the BJJ ace’s attempts to submit him.
The incident, known as ‘grease-gate,’ would put GSP and his corner’s actions that night under intense scrutiny, with cornerman Phil Nurse in particular being the focus of footage that showed him legally applying vaseline to St-Pierre’s face, but then utilized a breathing / massage technique to the chest and back that could potentially have left residual traces of the substance on his body heading into the next round.
Other high-profile fighters like Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk and Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller all accused the star of being slippery when they fought him, but ultimately NSAC ruled that there was no wrong-doing at a subsequent hearing.
