Let’s leave it at that though, okay?  There is no real reason to believe that the outcome of the fight was decided by the perceived advantage.  It is clear that B.J. is hoping for either a “no contest” ruling or a rematch, which would either be ridiculous or just plain foolish, depending on which outcome he hopes to receive. 

Penn and his camp have already achieved the best possible outcome from this that they could hope for, as staunch Penn supporters (and B.J. himself) have a ready-made excuse for how the fight went, and the hoopla itself made more noise than the outcome of the fight, whether you think St. Pierre won it fairly or not.

Because of the greasing shenanigans, B.J. has been mostly spared of the kind of criticism that he could have otherwise expected after the disastrous result of the fight.  “B.J., how can you say ‘to the death, to the death’, then quit between rounds?”  “Furthermore, how can you call another man a quitter and then not answer the bell yourself?”  “Don’t you think it’d be a better idea to stay in your own weight class?”

Thanks to the greasing nonsense, Penn has not had to really answer any of these questions, or the others that he surely would have had to otherwise.  Instead, he’s been able to focus on his crusade to…well, to what?  Overturn the fight?  Get another shot at GSP, even knowing that he doesn’t have what it takes to give him a serious challenge?

The athletic commission caught the incident very early into the fight and toweled St. Pierre off, so it’s hard to seriously look at what happened and blame it on a small amount of Vaseline in the center of GSP’s back.  Round one was fought entirely in the clinch or standing up, so that wouldn’t have changed.  It did appear that B.J. was having trouble keeping his legs up high in the guard, but his calves were not touching the center of GSP’s back, where the Vaseline would have been applied.  Also, when St. Pierre passed Penn’s guard multiple times in Round 2, it was due to him standing up, throwing punches and then passing during the ensuing chaos, not because he was slippery.

Maybe a “no contest” is what Penn was looking for, since then his record would be 0-1 with a no contest against GSP, with the one loss being a close decision.  However, the commission has said that he’s not going to get that ruling, so why continue with the bellyaching?

I would not argue against regulating corners more closely to keep this kind of thing from happening again, or even swabbing fighter’s skin to ensure that there is no greasing agent present (some of which are said to be activated when a fighter begins sweating).  However, there simply is no way to conclusively prove that the fight would have happened any differently if the incident hadn’t occurred.