New policy allows UFC fighters to grease between rounds

Hey, remember when Georges St-Pierre was getting lubed up in between rounds at UFC 94, and lightweight opponent BJ Penn — hoping to use some of his jiu-jitsu during the fight — was like “Hey, you can’t do that!”

Turns out you can.

Well, at least moving forward, as the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC) passed four new MMA policies today (Weds., Aug. 2, 2018) in Orlando, Florida, including new language on knockouts, as well as scorecards and referee timing.

MMA Fighting reports:

Currently, fighters are only allowed to have a thin amount of petroleum jelly on their cheeks, eyebrows, forehead, temples and nose put on before the fight. The policy passed Wednesday states that the jelly — or a similar substance — can be reapplied between rounds, but only by an approved cutman or licensed cornerman. The reasoning for the change is because boxing has always allowed the application of such a substance in between rounds.

Read all four policies in their entirety here.

The new policies do not affect the current Unified Rules of MMA and do not have to be adopted by stateside commissions; however, it’s always nice when everyone operates on the same page, so that referees and fighters understand what’s at stake when the cage door closes.

Like knowing when the but goes to the judges after a foul.

Grease is applied to the face because the skin is so tight against the skull and typically helps prevent impact cuts. Things go awry when some of that lube gets “accidentally” dropped on other body parts, making it difficult to grapple.