5 Unsolved mysteries in UFC history

#2 GSP-Penn Grease-gate ft. Dana White, 'Mayhem', Hughes and many more.

GSP destroys BJ Penn

B.J. Penn (16-11-2) is a Hawaiian former UFC Welterweight (WW) and Lightweight (LW) champion, with an MMA base of BJJ and boxing. Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre (25-2) is a former 2-time UFC WW champion and former interim-WW champion, widely considered one of the greatest fighters of all time.

GSP faced Penn at UFC 58 in 2006, edging him in a close split-decision. The rematch took place at UFC 94 in 2009, with GSP’s UFC WW strap on the line. After a close 1^st round, GSP’s corner was caught applying Vaseline all over his torso, covering his back and shoulders with grease, thereby making him a slippery target in grappling exchanges.

Round 2 began and GSP took over the fight, executing a beautiful chain-wrestling strategy whilst simultaneously peppering Penn with a constant dosage of jabs. St-Pierre dominated his opponent from bell-to-bell through rounds 2-4. Penn’s corner threw in the towel after the 4^th round ended, making GSP the victor by way of TKO.

All hell broke loose after the fight, with Dana White screaming at the top of his lungs shouting profanities. Penn and his camp went on to pursue a legal case against GSP, in what is now infamous as ‘Grease-gate’ or the lesser used ‘Vaseline-gate’.

Several past GSP opponents, namely Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller, Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk and others rode Penn’s coattails, claiming that they found St-Pierre to be excessively slippery, during their respective bouts against the Canadian legend.

Nevertheless, the NSAC found St-Pierre to be not-guilty and shut down Penn and co’s greasing allegations. Despite GSP being rubbed down by his corner, before the commencement of the 2^nd round; Penn and the other fighters made no bones about their accusations on the Canadian.

St-Pierre’s grease-gate controversy remains one of the more talked about incidents in MMA history.

Whether or not, St-Pierre and his corner’s actions were intentional, remains unknown.