BJ Penn was released from a Las Vegas hospital late Saturday night, and he returned home to Hilo yesterday.

The only significant injury was his wounded pride.

Canada's Georges St-Pierre defeated Penn via TKO in the main event of the UFC 94 mixed martial arts card on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The bout was shockingly one-sided, but apparently not without controversy.

One of St-Pierre's cornermen was caught rubbing Vaseline on St-Pierre's shoulders and back — which is illegal — in between the first and second rounds.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission and UFC president Dana White are aware of the incident, but no official rulings have been issued yet.

www.MMAweekly.com reported the incident on its Web site yesterday, and editor Ken Pishna called it "significant."

"It might not seem like that big of an issue now because of the way the fight went," Pishna said. "But the thing is, it could become a big issue. GSP clearly won that fight, there's no way around that. But a rule was clearly broken. Now do you just let it go or do you come down hard? This could end up being one of those landmark decisions."

Penn and his trainers declined to comment on the issue yesterday.

Pishna said rulings on such issues are not made for several days — sometimes weeks — by the NSAC.

According to the www.MMAweekly.com report, an official from the NSAC actually went into the octagon to inform St-Pierre's corner about the infraction.

The official then grabbed a towel and wiped St-Pierre's back between the second and third rounds, and again between the third and fourth rounds.

White said he didn't think the Vaseline incident made a difference in the outcome.

The first round was fairly close — although all three judges scored it for St-Pierre — and then St-Pierre went on to dominate the next three rounds. The bout was stopped after the fourth round.

"I don't think that impacted the fight, I don't," White said.

Pishna wasn't so sure.

When Penn was in the bottom "guard" position, Pishna noticed that Penn could not slide his leg up St-Pierre's back for a more advantageous angle.

St-Pierre was in the top position for most of the bout, but Penn is adept at wrapping his legs around opponents to attempt jiu-jitsu submissions.

"When ever BJ tried to climb his legs up to go for a triangle (choke) or something like that, he couldn't do it," Pishna said. "Whether Vaseline had something to do with that, who knows? That's what makes this so interesting, is it's difficult to prove one way or another if (Vaseline) had something to do with that or not."

White seemed to indicate that the guilty cornerman — and not St-Pierre — should be punished.

"You could have put Vaseline on from head to toe, that wasn't the point," White said. "The point was, you don't do it. It's illegal. The guy who did it needs to be punished, it's not (St-Pierre's) fault."

PENN PAID $125,000 FOR MAIN EVENT OF UFC 94

BJ Penn was paid $125,000 by the UFC for Saturday's bout, according to figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Georges St-Pierre received $400,000, which included a $200,000 bonus for the victory over Penn.

Penn had a similar victory bonus clause in his contract. He would have received a total of $250,000 if he won.

Penn's biggest payday from the UFC is $250,000 for his victory over Sean Sherk last May.