According to the Nevada State Athletics Commission officials that oversaw the bout at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, they saw no behavior that suggested foul play on Silva’s part before or during the event.
After Anderson Silva’s amazing knockout win over Vitor Belfort at this past weekend’s UFC 126: Anderson vs. Belfort event, some conspiracy theorists thought that the champ might have been trying to give himself an unfair advantage by using Vaseline from his face to make his body slicker.
“If they thought it was advantageous, they would wipe it off,” NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer told news reporters.
Silva hardly made any contact with Belfort during the headlining bout before landing an amazing front kick knockout during the first round of the bout.
Clips surfaced throughout the internet after the bout showing Silva wiping his face and then wiping his chest after the cutman had applied a coat of Vaseline to his face.
Kizer explained that inspectors and the referee can see well enough and if for some reason they thought a fighter was using the Vaseline for an advantage they would grab a towel and wipe the fighter down.
“I leave it to their expertise,” Kizer said. “We had a great referee in [the Silva bout] with Mario (Yamasaki), and we had four great inspectors in there. I saw some people were saying Belfort did the same thing. But that’s a lot different than someone putting Vaseline on a guy’s back to purposely give him an advantage. So it’s a matter of degrees.
What happened this past Saturday, Kizer said, is not even close to that level of significance. As to why Silva or Belfort rubbed their faces before the fight, the regulator is as in the dark as everyone else.
Whatever the reason may be for Silva’s wiping of his face, it caused no concern for the regulator or officials.
