B.J. Penn accepts Georges St. Pierre's challenge for third meeting
by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Feb 06, 2009 at 11:00 am ET
After filing a formal request with the Nevada State Athletic Commission to investigate the actions of UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre's corner in their UFC 94 main-event bout, UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn has posted an informal request to settle any remaining questions between the two fighters inside the cage.
The message accepting a potential third bout between the two was posted by Penn on BJPenn.com.
Penn's camp has contended adamantly since Saturday's result that St. Pierre's corner applied a greasing agent to the welterweight champion that gave the Canadian an unfair advantage on the ground.
The full message was posted late Thursday night and is posted unedited below.
For the past several days I have been reading statements made by St. Pierre and Greg Jackson about our fight on January 31. St. Pierre claims that he is "not a cheater" and that he and Greg Jackson will have "no problem with a rematch in the summer of 2009." To the untrained eye the grease might not look like much, but every grappler knows the effect that it has. Being able to apply your submissions and sweeps or just being able to hold on to your opponent to defend yourself from being hit is absolutely critical! There is a reason why you are not allowed to put grease anywhere on your body except for the area around your eyes. Because of the grease applied to St.Pierre's Body the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s executive director, Keith Kizer has stated that the Penn-St. Pierre fight "definitely wasn’t fair." I hereby accept George St. Pierre and Greg Jackson's challenge for a fight in the summer 2009. Lets call Dana now and set it up.
- BJ Penn
Kizer informed MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) on Monday that the NSAC was aware of the alleged "greasing" of St. Pierre even as the events in question were occurring. Kizer believed the situation was unfortunate in that it called the results of the bout into question in many fans' minds. Kizer insisted the NSAC would deal with the situation internally whether or not Penn and his camp filed a formal complaint.
The formal request of investigation, penned by Penn's lawyer, Raffi A. Nahabedian, came on Wednesday.
Penn's assessment is that his primary skill set, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, was unfairly affected by St. Pierre's corner when they applied Vaseline to his body and that he wants the matter investigated.
"In order for Mr. Penn (or any other licensed fighter of the Nevada Athletic Commission) to properly execute Brazilian jiu-jitsu or the many other grappling techniques which are an essential part of MMA, it is necessary that an environment exists without any illegally applied lubricants, oils or other substances that cause or result in slippery surfaces on the combatants," the letter read.
St. Pierre and his trainer, Greg Jackson, have vehemntly denied any wrongdoing in the bout, and have expressed in several media outlets their willingness to schedule a third bout between the two.
The two first met in March 2006, with St. Pierre earning a razor-thin, split-decision victory over Penn. St. Pierre was again the victor at UFC 94, earning a TKO-stoppage when Penn was declared unfit to answer the bell for the start of the fifth and final round.
Penn had been expected to defend his lightweight title against Kenny Florian later this summer, while St. Pierre was to face Thiago Alves in a welterweight title clash.
With UFC President Dana White's recent prediction that "UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn II" scored approximately 1.3 million pay-per-view buys, a third bout could be another financial success for the organization. However, it is unknown at this time of the UFC is comfortable continuing to keep two divisions on hold in order to arrange a summer meeting between the two UFC champions.
